Column: Austin Packers showing some pride
Published 8:13 pm Monday, September 1, 2008
An interesting thing happened early in the Packer football team’s 27-8 win over Red Wing last Thursday night.
The defense took over the game, which is something Packer fans never saw a lot of last year.
It started from the get-go when Austin recovered a fumble on the Wingers first play from scrimmage, but it really showed up on Red Wing’s second possession of the game.
While trailing 14-0, Red Wing showed some resolve and precision as they marched to the Austin 10-yard line as it gained 55 yards in six plays. Mercifully the first quarter ended to give the Pack a free timeout but it looked like the Wingers were headed to pay dirt.
As the Austin defense came to the sideline, there was no sulking and no one was hanging there heads. Instead they were trying to pump each other up, yelling ‘not another yard!’ and ‘the drive stops here!’
It was even more impressive when the defense came out and held Red Wing to four yards on three runs coming out of the timeout. And on fourth and goal from the Packer six-yard line, linebacker Adam Hemman stormed in the backfield for a drive-ending sack.
Red Wing never posed much of a threat the rest of the way and the Packers had made their point — their defense has found a sense of pride.
That pride continued to show as the Austin bench was alive throughout the night. As Austin running back Jerrod Ryks broke off a late 33-yard run, one of the Packers’ bench players suggested the junior back had ‘nitro in his legs.’
All in all it was a great sight for anyone looking for optimism in the Austin football team and it may very well continue as the season rolls along.
On a side note, I am picking every NFL game this season on my blog at austindailyherald.com. It’s for entertainment purposes and gives me a chance to look stupid when I pick games wrong. Check it out and see what you think.