The Packer football team made a huge statement when it beat Rochester Mayo 26-23 in overtime last season and now Austin will be facing the Spartans again.

This time Mayo comes to Art Hass Stadium in the season opener for both teams Friday at 7 p.m.

Austin head coach Brett Vesel said he’s expecting a solid Mayo squad to come to town.

“I know they have a good quarterback and they have some really good wide receivers who will probably play some defense too,” Vesel said. “They’re really big up front and they’ve got some nice looking linebackers. They look like a good team.”

The Packers have had to make a lot of adjustments on both sides of the ball in training camp as they graduated a bulk of last year’s team. Vesel likes where his squad is so far, but he said the goal is to keep improving throughout the year.

“We’re executing as good as we could be for our first game week,” he said. “I feel pretty good. We’ve got a few injuries and I’m sure they do too.”

Austin’s defense will be key to containing Mayo as the secondary will be asked to cover and the defensive line will have to provide a push. Offensively, Austin has new faces at almost every key position, so the team will have to focus on executing.

“It’s a young squad. We want to go out there and execute to the best of our ability and continue to get better throughout the year,” Vesel said. “We’re going to go out there and give them everything we’ve got. If we win, that’s great and if we lose, it’s not the end of the season by any stretch of the imagination.”