The Packer football team put on some pressure, but Rochester Century came up with a big answer in the second half as the Panthers topped Austin 41-22 in Art Hass Stadium Friday.

Austin junior quarterback Sean Coffey hooked up on touchdown passes of five and 22 yards with junior tight end Trevor Feuerhak at the end of the first half to bring his team within 21-14 at the break.

However, the Panthers (4-2 overall, 3-2 Big Nine) took the ball to start the second half and they turned in a 12 play, 68 yard drive that took six minutes off the clock when Alex Crawford capped it with a 20-yard TD run.

Century converted two third downs on the drive, including one on an Austin off-sides penalty.

“We’re kicking with the wind to start the third quarter and if we get a three-and-out and they have to kick in the wind, we’ve got a chance to tie it up,” Austin head coach Matt Schmit said. “A couple of things went wrong and it unravelled.”

Century went up 35-14 with that score and Austin went three-and-out on its next two possessions as the game slipped away.

Coffey finished with 219 yards passing and three TDs and zero turnovers as the Packers (0-6 overall, 0-5 Big Nine) incorportated the roll-out and the screen pass into their offense.

“We executed our lead and traps with our running backs and that gave me time to scramble out on the boot,” Coffey said. “We’re definitley disapointed, but we took a big step in this game.”

Austin had a chance to tie the game at the end of the first half, but their drive stalled at midfield and they were forced to punt. They didn’t see the ball again until about a half-hour in real time after half time and Century’s long drive.

“Century did a really good job of getting time off the clock and keeping us off the field,” Coffey said. “Our defense was getting tired so you can’t blame them; you’ve got to give credit to Century.”

Century opened the game with some big plays as Crawford, who ran 210 yards, broke off an 85-yard TD run up the middle to make it 7-0 with 3:02 left in the first quarter and Brian Christensen, who ran for 110 yards, added scoring runs of 36 and 14 yards in the first half.

“We can’t be giving up big chunks of yardage like that,” Schmit said.

While the Austin offense is yet to find conistency, it is starting to show that it can move the ball at times. Schmit is hoping the team continues to progress in the remaining two regular season games before the postseason begins.

“It’s the first year in the system and we’ve got 10 new starters,” Schmit said. “The more they play the more comfortable they get and we continue to get better. We maybe need to spread it around a little bit more. We’ve never had an entire receiving unit like this before where they can all catch the ball.”

Austin will play at Owatonna Friday at 7 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY

Century 14 7 7 14 — 42

Austin 0 14 0 7 — 22

First quarter

(C) Alex Crawford 85 run (Ben Coleman kick) (1 play, 85 yards) 3:02

(C) Brian Christensen 36 run (Coleman kick) (1 plays, 47 yards) :13.4

Second quarter

(A) Trevor Feuerhak 5 pass from Sean Coffey (kick failed) (2 plays, 77 yards) 11:53

(C) Christensen 14 run (Coleman kick) (4 plays, 59 yards) 10:48

(A) Feuerhak 22 pass from Coffey (Kasak from Coffey) (7 plays, 61 yards) 8:12

Third quarter

(C) Crawford 20 run (Coleman kick) (8 plays, 80 yards) 9:18

Fourth quarter

(C) Christensen 16 run (Coleman kick) (3 plays, 29 yards) 5:44

(A) Bret Lukes 9 pass from Coffey (Lukes from Kasak) (12 plays, 80 yards) :34

AUSTIN STATS

Rushing: Will Davenport, 11-for-41; Anthony Condit, 7-for-30; Bret Lukes, 2-for-3; Sean Coffey, 6-for-(-13); Passing: Coffey, 16-for-29, 219, 3 TD; Receiving: Trevor Feurhak, 5-for-74, 2 TD; Condit, 3-for-67; Zach Wessels, 3-for-32; Elijah Dahmen, 1-for-15; Lukes, 3-for-23, TD; Gabe Kasak, 1-for-8; Sacks: Condit (.5); Gabe Gerstner (.5); Interceptions: Eric Stephenson (1);
Penalties: 5-for-45

CENTURY STATS

Rushing: Alex Crawford, 16-for-210, 3 TD; Brian Christenson, 14-for-110, 3 TD; Dominick Jacobs, 7-for-43; Taylor Freund, 2-for-5; Passing: Jacobs, 3-for-6, 50, INT; Receiving: Graham Ketterling, 2-for-37; Jesse Moeckly, 1-for-13; Penalties: 5-for-45