Things couldn’t have started worse in a first half that looked very familiar to the Austin football team on Friday night.

The Packers lost fumbles on their first three offensive touches and they found themselves down 34-0 late in the first half, but they finally found some offense, despite losing 60-26 to Winona in Art Hass Stadium.

Josh Hart hit Tom Aase on a 21-yard fade for a touchdown to end the first half and the Packers put up a season-high 227 yards in a second half that saw them come alive on offense.

Austin (0-7 overall, 0-6 Big Nine) was within 40-20 with the ball in the fourth quarter when Anthony Inman picked off a Jay Ettinger pass on first down.

“It was a big night for a lot of us,” said Austin junior Anthony Condit. “The scoreboard doesn’t show much but we scored points and we hit them in the mouth. It was a fun game and I haven’t had a fun game like that in a while.”

Condit hit Cole Adams for a 23-yard pass on a fake punt and Condit ran for a 67-yard touchdown on the next play to make it a 40-20 game.

Hart also found his mark for the Packers as he threw the first, second and third touchdowns of the season for Austin. He finished with 156 yards and he completed three of his six throws in the second half.

“It just feels comfortable. It’s getting over the obstacle of getting that first pass and once you get that first pass it just comes to you,” Hart said. “We don’t want to give up because we’ve been in this situation before and giving up has done nothing for us. We just said at halftime that we’ve got to keep working.”

While the Packer offense got going, Winona (3-4 overall, 2-4 Big Nine) still had its way on the ground. The Winhawks racked up 347 rushing yards as Inman had scoring runs of 44 and 38 in the second half.

Austin finished with seven turnovers and five of those miscues came in the first half.

“We made some mistakes at the beginning of the game where we lost some momentum. We’d like to see that type of intensity right out of the gates next time,” Austin head coach Matt Schmit said. “The defense will feed off the offense and the offense will play off the defense. When everybody plays well, everybody starts believing and you saw that when we got going.”

Adams made a big play on defense for the Packers as he ran down Winona quarterback Jared Gilbertson on a 42-yard scamper and forced a fumble out of the end zone which gave Austin the ball at its own 20.

“Everyone was working hard and it shows how much passion we have,” Hart said. “Just because we were down, nobody stopped working and that’s a big motivator heading into next week against Albert Lea (on Wednesday).”

A week after they scored their first offensive touchdown of the season in Faribault, the Packers were thrilled to put up 20 points in a half and they hope it’s a sign of things to come.

“There’s no better time to figure it out than now,” Condit said. “We won’t have a high seed, but that doesn’t mean anything and it doesn’t mean we can’t go out and win some games.”

Gilbetson threw four touchdowns on consecutive throws in the first half — including three TDs to Ryan Woodard.

Ettinger hauled in two scoring grabs and he finished with 124 receiving yards.

STATS

Austin passing: Josh Hart, 4-for-12, 156, 3 TD, 2 INT; Anthony Condit, 1-for-1, 23; Jay Ettinger, 1-for-2, 8, INT; Blas Estrada, 1-for-5, 3, INT; Sean Coffey, 0-for-1

Austin receiving: Ettinger, 2-for-124, 2 TD; Cole Adams, 1-for-23; Tom Aase, 1-for-21, TD; Troy Peil, 1-for-11; Jordan Lysne, 1-for-8; Condit, 1-for-3

Austin rushing: Condit, 8-for-95, TD; Andrew Heickly, 9-for-10; Ethan Larson, 1-for-2; Pat Wagner, 1-for-1; Estrada, 5-for-(-3); Hart, 3-for-(-14)

Austin fumble recoveries: Condit (1)

Austin penalties: 4-for-45

Winona rushing: Anthony Inman, 20-for-176, 2 TD; Jared Gilbertson, 9-for-94; No. 16, 5-for-45, TD; Thomas Lueck, 7-for-23, TD; Brandon Muras, 2-for-5; Izaiah Fischer, 2-for-4, TD

Winona passing: Gilbertson, 7-for-13, 149, 4 TD

Winona receiving: Mike Gorsuch, 1-for-73, TD; Ryan Woodard, 4-for-54, 3 TD; Justin Bublitz, 1-for-16; Inman, 1-for-6

Winona penalties: 11-for-100

SCORING SUMMARY

Winona 21 13 6 20 — 60

Austin 0 6 6 8 — 26

First quarter

(W) 7:29 Thomas Lueck 9 run (Speltz kick) (2 plays, 9 yards)

(W) 2:25 Ryan Woodard 13 pass from Jared Gilbertson (Speltz kick) (6 plays, 44 yards)

(W) :26.6 Mike Gorsuch 73 pass from Gilbertson (Speltz kick) (1 play, 73 yards)

Second quarter

(W) 9:32 Woodard 27 pass from Gilbertson (kick failed) (5 plays, 45 yards)

(W) 3:59 Woodard 11 pass from Gilbertson (Speltz kick) (7 plays, 52 yards)

(A) :00 Tom Aase 21 pass from Josh Hart (Yocom kick blocked) (7 plays, 53 yards)

Third quarter

(W) 7:34 Anthony Inman 44 run (kick failed) (4 plays, 55 yards)

(A) 6:39 Jay Ettinger 72 pass from Hart (run failed) (2 plays, 73 yards)

Fourth quarter

(A) 11:36 Anthony Condit 67 yard (Ettinger run) (5 plays, 82 yards)

(W) 8:57 Inman 38 run (Speltz kick) (8 plays, 66 yards)

(A) 8:02 Ettinger 52 pass from Hart (run failed) (2 plays, 57 yards)

(W) 6:06 No. 16 3 run (Speltz kick) (5 plays, 73 yards)

(W) 3:08 Izaiah Fischer (kick failed) (3 plays, 18 yards)