WINONA — Faced with their season ending, the Austin football team dug deep and gave its best effort in weeks.

The Packers snapped a four-game losing streak in a thrilling fashion when they topped Winona 18-13 in the first round of the Section 1AAAA tournament Tuesday at Paul Giel Field.

“I’ve never felt better,” said Austin running back Jerrad Ryks, who ran for 132 yards and three scores. “I’ve never felt better.”

Austin’s defense rushed Winona quarterback Jared Gilbertson all night, forcing him out of the pocket and producing a few rushed throws. Austin put the Winhawks away when senior defensive back Mike Tindal picked off a Gilbertson pass with 48 seconds left in the game at midfield and ran it back deep into Winona territory.

All Tindal had to do was slide and the game was sealed, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“I just saw the ball and it was coming right to me,” Tindal said of the play. “(Once I caught it) every instinct I had told me to stop, but I just didn’t want to stop. It was a great feeling. I came in thinking if this is my last game, I’m going to have some fun tonight and I think everybody did that.”

The stop was the second one the Austin defense made in the last five minutes as they held off the Winhawks on a short field on their previous possession.

Right after Ryks capped an eight-play, 75 yard drive with a five-yard touchdown scamper to put Austin up 18-13 with 5:25 left in the game, Winona’s Jay Moran ran the ensuing kickoff back 41 yards and he drew a personal foul penalty on Austin to put it at the Packer 34-yard line. No. 5 seeded Austin (4-5 overall) forced the fifth-seeded Winhawks (4-5 overall) to go four-and-out as Gilbertson threw short on fourth and three from the Austin 27-yard line.

“This is something our team desperately needed,” Austin head coach Tim Hermann said. “They worked way too hard to not be able to come out of that slide. We had a lot of setbacks and I really feel great for the kids. They put in a good week of practice and came to play.”

Ryks’ go-ahead score was set up by a clutch third down conversion when Austin quarterback T.J. Fritz hooked up with Andrew Kaiser for a 21-yard gain on third and seven from the Austin 36-yard line. Fritz was also crucial on Austin’s opening drive when he completed three passes of 10 or more yards en route to setting up a Ryks six-yard touchdown run.

“I thought T.J. kind of erupted,” Hermann said. “Everybody puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback to do everything. Today he really helped us with the play-action game and he ran a little bit. He also put some balls on the money that we dropped. I really felt good about him.”

After the Packers, who will play at top-seeded Northfield (6-2 overall) Saturday at 7 p.m., recovered a fumble at the Winona 14-yard line and drove to take a 12-6 lead, the Winhawks got a little luck on their side. On fourth and five from the Austin 28-yard line, Gilbertson had a pass tipped by the Austin defense bounce straight to Moran, who pulled it in for a big gain. Gilbertson hooked up with Ryan Woodard two plays later to make it 13-12 Winhawks.

“Whenever they scored, you’ve got to come back and do the same thing,” Austin left tackle Brady Klingfus said. “We kept our heads in there. When they made a big play, we’d come back and stick them some more.”

Tindal made another big play in the first half for Austin when he broke up a fourth down deep ball intended for Woodard. Tindal said he noticed some habits of the Winona receivers when the Winhawks beat Austin 44-15 two weeks ago in Winona.

“They didn’t always go to their routes right away,” Tindal said. “On their main route they’d just dance to it and then hit it. I didn’t bite on (the fourth down play).”

The Austin defense also stepped up in the first quarter. When the Winhawks faked a field goal on fourth and goal from the Packer five-yard line, Austin forced Moran out of bounds for a two-yard loss before he was able to get off his pass attempt.

“I really was happy with the way our defensive front played and we put some pressure on guys,” Hermann said. “The combination of pressure and much better secondary coverage was a big key on defense. Matt Mueller put a lick on a guy on the sideline (early in the second half) and that’s what’s it all about. That’s defense and it’s what a like to see.”

The first half ended with a flurry of action as Winona scored on a 57-yard pass play from Gilbertson to Moran to tie the game at six with 2:11 left in the second quarter and Austin drove all the way to the Winona 13-yard line, where Jay Ettinger couldn’t quite hang on to a Fritz pass in the end zone as time expired.

Despite having lost four in a row and not having won a playoff contest in a few years, Hermann had a good feeling before the Winona game.

“We have a group of leaders here that helped us get through the difficult time,” Hermann said. “We walked out on the field to start this game and I felt better than I had in five weeks, just by what I heard them saying and what I saw in their eyes.”

Now the Packers will focus on playing at Northfield.

“I just want to see how far we can take it. We have a good chance of going pretty far,” Ryks said.

Austin lost senior cornerback Preston Higbe for the season with a stress fracture against Albert Lea. Sophomore Blas Estrada played corner in his place against Winona.

Austin stats

Rushing: Jerrad Ryks, 28-for-132, 3 TD; T.J. Fritz, 12-for-36; Passing: Fritz, 11-for-20, 123 INT; Receiving: Bob Astrup, 3-for-44; Jay Ettinger, 4-for-40; Andrew Kaiser, 1-for-21; Quinn Yocom, 3-for-18; Sacks: Mitch Morem; Interception: Mike Tindal; Fumble recovery: Cole Adams; Penalties: 7-for-55

Winona stats

Rushing: Mitch Jacobsen, 7-for-58; Jared Gilbertson, 9-for-36; Anthony Inman, 13-for-32; Jay Moran, 1-for-(-2); Gilbertson, 7-for-15, 116, 2 TD; Receiving: Moran, 3-for-91, TD; Zack Spies, 1-for-10; Woodard, 2-for-9; Jacobsen, 1-for-6; Interceptions: Ryan Looney; Penalties: 5-for-35

SCORING SUMMARY

Austin 6 0 6 6 — 18

Winona 0 6 0 7 — 13

First quarter

(A) 6:39 Ryks 6 run (Jacob Hines kick failed) (13 plays, 78 yards)

Second quarter

(W) 2:11 Moran 57 pass from Gilbertson (Jacquart kick failed) (1 play, 57 yards)

Third quarter

(A) 2:30 Ryks 8 run (pass failed) (3 plays, 14 yards)

Fourth quarter

(W) 9:29 Woodard 10 pass from Gilbertson (Jacquart kick) (10 plays, 80 yards)

(A) 5:25 Ryks 5 run ( pass failed) (8 plays, 75 yards)