Austin junior Mitch Tebay came through with a thrilling victory to keep the Packer wrestling team from getting shutout by Albert Lea and the Packers took care of business in a win over Winona at a wrestling triangular in Ove Berven Gym Thursday.

Austin (3-3 overall, 1-1 Big Nine) beat Winona 43-30 and fell to the Tigers 71-3.

Mitch Tebay, who won by forfeit against Winona, went through plenty of ups and downs against AL’s Nick Kromminga, but he ended up with a 16-13 win that came down to the last second.

“I went out there with the mindset that I was gonna win, because I didn’t want to get shutout,” Tebay said.

Tebay led 14-8 with 39 seconds left when Kromminga took him down and nearly came up with a pin to pull within 14-13. Tebay avoided a loss by pulling off a reversal with five seconds left to get the win.

“I saw there was like 15 seconds left, so I thought I’d give it my all,” Tebay said. “My head was slowly creeping up, so I was just trying to bridge up and pop out.”

Tebay also had a major scare in the first period when he thought he had pinned Kromminga and started to walk towards the center of the mat. However with a few seconds left in the period, Kromminga quickly got up and tallied a near fall to turn a 7-0 match into a 7-4 match going into the second.

“I thought I saw (the ref’s) hand slap and it was a pin, and then I turned around I just saw (Kromminga) lunge,” Tebay said.

Austin head coach Bill Kinney said Tebay has come along way from last season, especially since he attended a team camp over the summer that taught him some technique.

“Mitch has been one of the surprises early in the season. He’s taken a lot of lumps in the last couple of years and it’s kind of fun to see him come on,” Kinney said. “That took a lot of guts for him to come off his back. I’m a little disappointed that he got there to his back. He knows better than that.”

Austin sophomore Brandon Cotter had a battle against AL’s Devin Nelson at 145, but Cotter couldn’t take the lead as he lost a 13-10 decision in his first loss of the season.

“This was the kind of match he needed,” Kinney said of Cotter. “He needs good, tough matches to jump start him and get him going. It was a good, competitive match.”

Austin’s Brennen Russell, Devon Felten and Cotter all recorded pins in Austin’s win over the Winhawks, who haven’t won a Big Nine dual match since 2004.

“They’re really hungry for a victory and their coach told me he thought this would be their victory,” Kinney said. “We ruined their plans and they’ll have to wait a little bit longer. There were four or five toss-up matches and we won most of the toss ups.”

Austin 43, Winona 30

106: Jake Vaselaar (W) pinned Danny Albarran (A) (2:53); 113: Tristan Drazkowski (W) def. Joe Maxfield (A) 6-4 OT; 120: Josh Maxfield (A) won by forfeit; 126: Erick Power (A) won by forfeit; 132: Brennen Russell (A) pinned Will Krageschmidt (W) (3:38); 138: Devon Felten (A) pinned Evan Mohan (W) (:29); 145: Brandon Cotter (A) pinned Jordan Woodard (W) (1:29); Riley Grinstead (A) 7-1 dec. over Jake Timm (W); 160: Max Phfughoeft (W) pinned Kole Igou (A) (3:11); 170: Joe Kamp (A) 9-0 maj. dec. over Chris Wisted (W); 182: Tim Tebay (A) won by forfeit; 195: Foster Zittel (W) pinned Zenith Khamphouy (A) (5:09); 220: Vincent Pham (W) 10-4 dec. over Eli Kaercher (A); 285: Geroge Wegge (W) pinned Logan Hotek (A) (:22)

Albert Lea 71, Austin 3

106: Garrett Aldrich (W) pinned Albarran (A) (:44); Beau Johnsrud (AL) pinned Joe Maxfield (A) (3:13); Garrett Wangsness (AL) pinned Josh Maxfield (1:41); 126: Trevor Westerlund (AL) pinned Power (A) (3:17); 132: Dakota Wangsness (AL) 12-4 maj. dec. over Russell (A); 138: Derek Samudio (AL) 11-2 maj. dec. over Felten (A); 145: Devin Nelson (AL) 13-10 dec. over Cotter (A); 152: Lucas Hanson (AL) pinned Grinstead (A) (:30); 160: Bany Chan (AL) pinned Igou (A) (1:00); 170: Tebay (A) 16-13 dec. over Nick Kromminga (AL); 182: Tim Christianson (AL) pinned Kamphouy (A) (:18); 195: Tristan Westerlund (AL) won by forfeit); 220: Alex Seuser (AL) pinned Kaercher (A) (:17); Jacob Kunkel (AL) pinned Hotek (A) (:22)