ROCHESTER — Within a blink of an eye, the Packers were playing catch-up against Rochester Century and it turned out they dug themselves in too big of a hole to climb out of.

The Packers trailed 24-0 after one quarter as they lost 40-26 to Century in a football game on the road Friday.

Century (3-3 overall, 3-2 Big Nine) did the majority of its damage by riding senior running back Alex Crawford, who ran for 294 yards in the first half and finished with 366 yards and four scores on 37 carries.

“He runs hard and he’s more of a fullback. But they use him the right way and he’s a good running back,” Austin head coach Brett Vesel said. “We just weren’t playing (in the first quarter). They’re coming at us harder than we were coming at them. It was nothing fancy, but they did a nice job of doing that.”

Austin (2-4 overall, 2-3 Big Nine) produced just one first down in the first quarter, while the Panthers converted scoring drives of 51, 50 and 65 yards.

“We just came out really flat,” Austin senior Tommy Olmsted, who ran for 68 yards and two TDs, said. “On offense we didn’t get going right away and we were trying to jump on them. We really put the defense in a bad situation and we gave them poor field position.”

The Packers recovered two fumbles and an onside kick in the first half, but only one of the takeaways led to score as Olmsted capped 6 play, 57 yard drive to make it 24-6 with eight minutes left in the half. Austin got as deep as Century’s 10- and 21-yard line on its next to possessions but it couldn’t convert a fourth and four and a fourth and seven.

“If a couple of things bounce our way early on, we might be right in the game,” Vesel said. “We’ve talked about coming out for four quarters all year long and we have to start to figure it out.”

Austin’s offense finally found some rhythm in the second half as Ryan Synoground, who threw for 260 yards and a score, completed all 10 of his pass attempts in the frame.

The Packers scored two TDs in a one-minute span when Marcus Stoulil hauled in a 46-yard score with 3:21 left in the game and after an onside kick recovery, Olmsted had 47-yard scamper that set up his own five-yard run.

“It just came down to who was gonna have more pride (in the second half),” Olmsted said. “We got kicked around in the first half and in the second half we started to turn it up a little, but it wasn’t enough and we need to do better.”

AUSTIN STATS

Rushing: Tommy Olmsted, 6-for-68, 2 TD; Ryan Synoground, 16-for-29; Elijah Dahmen, 5-for-2; Nik Gasner, 1-for-(-3); Passing: Synoground, 20-for-33, 260, TD; Receiving: Bret Lukes, 7-for-78; Nik Gasner, 5-for-77; Marcus Stoulil, 3-for-67, TD; Jacob Kempen, 4-for-30; Olmsted, 1-for-8; Penalties: 5-for-40; Fumble recoveries: Kole Igou (1); Ajuda Nywesh (1)

SCORING SUMMARY

Austin 0 6 6 14 — 26

Century 24 8 8 0 — 40

First quarter

(C) Darryl Martin 28 run (Alex Crawford run) (5 plays, 51 yards) 9:06

(C) Crawford 2 run (Jacob Roth run) (7 plays, 50 yards) 4:53

(C) Crawford 41 run (Crawford run) (5 plays, 65 yards) 1:37

Second quarter

(A) Olmsted 2 run (run failed) (6 plays, 57 yards) 8:00

(C) Crawford 76 run (Crawford run) (2 plays, 80 yards) 5:25

Third quarter

(A) Synoground 1 run (pass failed) (10 plays, 85 yards) 5:30

(C) Crawford 6 run (Crawford run) (8 plays, 65 yards) 1:14

Fourth quarter

(A) Stoulil (pass failed) (9 plays, 87 yards) (pass failed) 3:21

(A) Olmsted 5 run (Stouil pass from Synoground) (3 plays, 51 yards) 2:28