The Austin football team is hoping to close its regular season on a good note as it prepares to host Mankato East Wednesday at Art Hass Stadium at 7 p.m.

The Cougars (1-6 overall, 1-6 Big Nine) are averaging a Big Nine-low 9.0 points per game and they allow a Big Nine-worst 37.7 points per game. East is coming off a 42-6 loss to Owatonna and the Packers (3-4 overall, 3-4 Big Nine) have won two straight and they beat Albert Lea 37-25 last Friday.

Austin was glad to beat AL, but the team is focusing on finishing better this week.

“We’ve got to play better,” Austin head coach Brett Vesel said. “We’re happy we won the last game, but I don’t think we’re happy with our overall performance. We need to play better, try and play a full game and execute until the end.”

The Packers don’t have a lot of time to prepare for the Cougars, but Vesel said his team will be ready.

“Everybody kind of runs different things when they play us and I don’t know why,” he said. “They won’t run the same stuff they ran against West against us. We won’t know until we show up on game day and we’re getting pretty good at doing that now.”

Austin is in good shape as it has won three of its last four games and a win on Wednesday would give the Packers a three-game winning streak going into the Section 1AAAAA playoffs, which begin Oct. 22.

“We’re reasonably healthy right now,” Vesel said. “I feel pretty good about where we’re at going in with the short week.”