Column: Packers’ win could mean bigger things

Published 7:03 pm Monday, September 24, 2012

A win for a high school football team on a Friday night may seem routine for some schools, but for Austin High School, it meant a lot more when the Packers broke through with an 18-0 win at Mankato East last Friday.

While it wasn’t a huge shock that the Packers took down the winless Cougars, how they did it was pretty impressive. The Packers came into the game having given up 35, 57 and 63 points in their first three games, but the Austin defense was hardly recognizable in a good way on Friday as it dominated the Cougars and held them to just a shade over 100 yards of offense in a shutout.

The defensive effort was by no means just one or two players stepping up as the entire squad seemed to have its best game on the same night.

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Junior Ajuda Nywesh knocked down a key pass in the secondary, senior Pat Wagner had an interception and a fumble recovery, sophomore Kole Igou made several plays in the Cougar backfield, sophomore Joe Kamp made a big hit on special teams, and junior Gabe Gerstner was a fiery leader, keeping the squad focused.

While the Packer defense dominated, the Austin offense overcame an early setback as their freshman running back Nate Conner was done for the night on his first carry. Junior Elijah Dahmen did a solid job in relief, but then he had to leave the lineup due to an injury and another freshman, Brandon Edgar, helped run out the clock in the end.

Through the air, junior quarterback Ryan Synoground nearly reached the 300-yard passing mark as he spread the ball around to senior Marcus Stoulil, sophomore Nik Gasner and senior Tommy Olsmted, who made the move from corner to receiver this past week.

With a solid win under their belts, the Packers can now focus on earning a home game for the playoffs, something Austin hasn’t done in a long time. While Austin has been bumped up to Class ‘AAAAA’ this year, they still have a decent shot to host a postseason contest, especially if they can knock section opponents Rochester Mayo and Rochester Century in the next two weeks.

The smiles on the Packers’ faces after getting their first win in 23 tries was a great sight last Friday night, and let’s hope it leads to whole lot more smiling on the gridiron for the rest of the fall.

It’s Homecoming this week at AHS, so what better time to start a different kind of streak? This time it can be a winning one.