Packers look to shake off injuries against JM: VIDEO

Published 8:13 pm Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Austin football team will have to make do with out its starting quarterback the rest of the season as it prepares to take on John Marshall in Rochester this Friday for a 7 p.m. game.

Packers quarterback Nate Justice suffered a broken bone in the team’s homecoming win over Mankato East and he is done for the year. On the season, Justice, a senior, completed 58 percent of his passes (60-for-103) for 583 yards with two TDs and an interception in five games.

The good news on the injury front is that Matt Mueller will return to kick, but may not return to his defensive spot in the secondary.

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Justice will be replaced by a combination of T.J. Fritz, and Jaamal Gibson. Linebacker Mike Hoeper will slide into Mueller’s position on defense — with Tayler Sederquest and Andrew Wagnen filling in for Hoeper.

Now the Packers (2-4 overall, 1-4 Big Nine) will focus on the Rockets (3-3 overall), who are coming off a 13-0 win over Century.

“JM is as big and physical on the defensive front as any team we will see,” Austin head coach Tim Hermann said. “We will need to be extremely aggressive on our blocking schemes this week to be successful running the football, which is a must for us.”

On defense, Austin hopes its speed can counteract JM’s power.

“They are big, hard-nosed, and physical,” Hermann said. “These are the types of teams that are

difficult for us defensively. We will need to have great pursuit and use our quickness to negate their size.”