ROCHESTER — After six years straight of losing in Rochester, the Austin football team had enough of it. They finally tossed that burden off their back with a resounding 45-20 win over John Marshall at John Drews Field Friday.

“It’s been four or five years since we’ve taken on a John Marshall team that was intimidating in nature and didn’t back down,” Austin head coach Tim Hermann said. “This was a huge win for us.”

The contest started all too familiar for the Packers (2-0 overall, 1-0 Big Nine) as an illegal motion penalty killed their opening drive, and Jamaal Gibson fumbled on an ensuing punt return. JM (1-1 overall, 0-1 Big Nine) quickly converted the miscue into a three play, 13-yard touch down drive to go up 7-0.

Then, for the first time in years, the Packers fought back.

Austin return man Jay Ettinger took the following kickoff back 41 yards, which set up an eight play, 39 yard drive that saw Jerrad Ryks score the first of his four touch downs. The Packers would score touch downs on six of their next seven possessions as they went on to take a commanding 45-14 lead late in the third quarter.

“It’s very satisfying after all the years (we’ve lost in Rochester). It was a great big disappointment (losing to JM) last year and we just wanted to come out and stick it to them. We’re tired of losing and we’re not going to settle for second best any more,” Austin center Joe Diggins said. “We have to keep preparing and we can’t settle, that’s what happened previous years. It’s time to go back to work.”

While the offense was rolling behind the running of Ryks, who had 219 yards on the ground and now has eight touch downs in two games, the defense held it’s own.

On JM’s second possession, Austin defensive end Mike Hirsch snuffed Mohammed Thurman on an end around and forced a fumble, which Andrew Wagnen recovered. On JM’s next possession, Austin defensive back Jamaal Gibson broke up a pass on the goal line when the Rockets had a fourth and 10 on Austin’s 30.

Then with the Packers leading 18-7, Austin safety Cole Adams jumped a route and picked off a pass at the Austin 36-yard line and he ran it all the way back to the JM 32-yard line.

“That gave us a ton of momentum. I got scared a little, because I saw the open receiver, but Cole came running in front,” said Austin defensive back Mike Tindal.

Tindal, who had a fumble recovery and an interception, teamed up with Gibson, Adams, Aaron Dooley and Preston Higbe to hold the Rockets’ speedy receiving threats of Thurman and Jordan Stokes to 50 total yards.

“We prepared all week for them. I respected their speed. They weren’t quite as fast as we prepared for but we worked hard and we stopped them,” Tindal said.

While the defensive was dominating, the offense was thriving on the option as Fritz ran for 88 yards and three touch downs. It was a far cry from last season at JM where Fritz made his debut at quarterback in a 38-14 loss to the Rockets.

“That wasn’t a good one last year. It felt really good tonight,” Fritz said. “They were giving me that seam up the middle and the coaches told me to hit it, so I hit it and it worked out for us. I didn’t have any fear (going up the middle). Not yet anyway, I haven’t gotten hurt yet.”

Fritz was confident heading into the season, but he never thought his team would score over 40 points in the first two games of the season.

“I didn’t expect (40 points in the first two games) but it’s good. Hopefully we can keep it going and I think we can,” he said.

Fritz credited his line which opened up some huge holes for him and Ryks to run through.

“We were expecting a lot more resistance (from JM),” Diggins said. “When we watched tape, the nose tackle was very active and he was bull rushing a lot. I had a guy in my face all week long preparing for that. We try to work our butts off for (Ryks and Fritz), because when they look good, then we look good. It all comes back to hard work.”

While his Packers have put up a ton of points in two games, Hermann still could see the offense doing more as it prepares for Rochester Century, which comes to Art Hass Stadium Friday at 7 p.m.

“We didn’t really open it up too much,” he said. “We just ran the power and the option. We’ll have to be a lot more diverse when Century comes to town.”

And while it was nice for the Packers to finally win in Rochester (which was just their second road win in the last two seasons), they hope it will give the squad a boost.

“This is a big win for us to beat a 5A team and I think it gives us some confidence going into our toughest game of the season so far against Century,” Hermann said.

Austin stats

Rushing: Jerrad Ryks, 26-for-219, 4 TD; T.J. Fritz, 13-for-88, 3 TD; Jamaal Gibson, 3-for-12

Passing: Fritz, 6-for-7, 54

Receiving: Andrew Kaiser, 1-for-20; Jamaal Gibson, 1-for-18; Ryks, 3-for-16

Interceptions: Cole Adams, Mike Tindal

Sacks: Michael Hirsch

Fumble recoveries: Tindal, Andrew Wangnen

John Marshall stats

Rushing: Ryan Rushton, 20-for-139, 3 TD; Anthony Johnson, 4-for-26; Max Schafer, 1-for-8; Steve Frey, 1-for-2; Mohammed Thurman, 1-for-(-2); Jake Kirsch, 3-for-(-6)

Passing: Kirsch, 10-for-26, 100, 2 INT

Receiving: Jordan Stokes, 3-for-29; Bryan King, 2-for-29; Mohammed Thurman, 3-for-21; A.J. Prizler, 1-for-13; Steve Frey, 1-for-8

Sacks: Austin Minea

Fumble recoveries: Stokes, Jacob Guthmiller, Ryan Williamson

Austin 12 19 14 0 — 45

John Marshall 7 0 7 6 — 20

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

(JM) 5:19 Ryan Rushton 1 run (Anthony Johnson kick) (3 plays, 13 yards)

(A) 2:25 Jerrad Ryks 2 run (Matt Mueller kick missed) (8 plays, 39 yards)

(A) 1:10 Ryks 11 run (Jacob Hines kick failed) (2 plays, 31 yards)

Second quarter

(A) 7:06 Ryks 1 run (pass incomplete) (7 plays, 70 yards)

(A) 2:16 Fritz 4 run (pass incomplete) (8 plays, 32 yards)

(A) :36.5 Fritz 6 run (Hines kick) (4 plays, 20 yards)

Third quarter

(A) 9:22 Ryks 1 run (Mueller kick) (3 plays, 50 yards)

(JM) 3:22 Rushton 1 run (Johnson kick) (16 plays, 76 yards)

(A) :47.9 Fritz 6 run (Mueller kick) (5 plays, 64 yards) (5 plays, 64 yards)

Fourth quarter

(JM) Rushton 2 run (kick failed) (5 plays, 33 yards)