WINONA — Just when things looked to be falling apart, the Packer football team stepped up and made it’s two biggest stops of the season to vault them to a 27-21 win over Winona on the road Friday.

The Winhawks (1-3 overall, 1-3 Big Nine) had just scored 21 straight points to pull within a score when they took over at the Austin 37-yard line in the fourth quarter.

The Packers (1-3 overall, 1-3 Big Nine) stopped the Winhawks on a three-and-out on that possession and they stopped Winona on a four-and-out when the Winhawks’ last possession began at their own 9-yard line with 2:26 left.

Austin senior Gabe Gerstner had a sack on second down of that last possession and he chased down Winona quarterback Jeffery Schultz on third down to force a bad throw on a third and 11. On Winona’s last offensive play, Austin cornerback Ajuda Nywesh knocked down a deep pass to help seal the win.

“I wanted to win tonight. Before the game there was no horsing around on the bus and everyone’s mind was on football. That showed tonight,” Gerstner, who had two sacks, said. “We needed this win and it’s going to carry on throughout the rest of season guaranteed. The Pack is back.”

The Austin defense yielded just 47 yards passing in the win against a Winona team that likes to air it out.

Austin’s win may have looked guaranteed after it got the ball back with under two minutes left, but things got a little too exciting for comfort on Austin’s final possession. The Packers took three kneels to run the clock down to 15 seconds, and on fourth and 20, quarterback Ryan Synground took off and ran backwards towards his own end zone with the intention of running out the remaining time.

Synground, who ran for 44 yards and two TDs in the win, had to elude Winona’s defense at his own 30-yard line with five seconds left when he made a cut-back and sprinted down the sideline back towards Winona’s end zone. He ended up losing just 10 yards on the play as time expired and the Packers won.

Austin head coach Brett Vesel had to sit tight as is quarterback ran out the clock.

“That was not the play called,” Vesel said. “We have a play similar to that, but I didn’t call that play. I thought he was going to go back and take a knee and we’d have to go back and play defense. He’s lucky he made a good move.”

The first half saw Austin dominate both sides of the ball. The Packers stopped Winona on all four of its first half possessions and Austin converted touchdown drives of 87, 80 and 74 yards.

Austin sophomore Nate Conner had a run of 23-yard run to set up a 1-yard TD run by Synoground to make it 7-0. On Austin’s next possession, Synoground busted off a 25-yard scoring run to make it 13-0. Conner, who ran for 133 yards, broke off a 13-yard TD run to make it 20-0 with 2:49 left in the half.

Conner and Synground used the read-option to near perfection in the first half, but in the second half, the Packers struggled to move the ball as Winona toughened up on defense.

“(Ryan) took a couple of runs and that opened up everything for me. I was aiming for 200 yards, because that’s a sticker (on the helmet) for us,” Conner said. “(In the second half), they started blitzing up the middle and they were turning us outside.”

The Packers had their best rushing night as a team of the season as Cory Hepler ran for 49 yards and Brandon Edgar added an 18-yard run.

“Our offensive line did a pretty good job tonight and our backs fight so hard,” Gerstner said. “We have three really great backs.”

Austin had a bad break when a 76-yard TD pass to Bret Lukes was called back due to an illegal man field penalty on the Packers with 6:38 left in the game.

Winona got back in the game when it had good field position on two straight possessions. The Winhakws began one possession from Austin’s 38-yard line after a 10-yard punt and they scored on two plays. Then, after they picked off Synoground, the Winhawks started at Austin’s five-yard line and they scored again to make it 27-14 with 2:09 left in the third quarter.

AUSTIN STATS

Rushing: Nate Conner, 25-for-133, TD; Cory Hepler, 7-for-49; Ryan Synoground, 18-for-44, 2 TDs; Brandon Edgar, 1-for-18; passing: Synoground, 15-for-22, 148, INT; receiving: Zach Wessels, 11-for-116, TD; Bret Lukes, 3-for-21; Nik Gasner, 1-for-11; sacks: Gabe Gerstner (2); Tony Baudler (.5); Logan Hotek (.5); penalties: 3-for-40

WINONA STATS

Rushing: 173; passing: 47; penalties: 8-for-76

SCORING SUMMARY

Austin 7 12 7 0 — 27

Winona 0 0 14 7 — 21

First quarter

(A) Ryan Synoground 1 run (Wessels kick) (9 plays, 87 yards) 5:23

Second quarter

(A) Synoground 25 run (pass failed) (9 plays, 80 yards) 8:54

(A) Nate Conner (pass failed) (11 plays, 74 yards) 2:49

Third quarter

(A) Zach Wessels 16 pass from Synoground (Kempen pass from Synoground) 7:18

(W) Jeffery Schultz 16 run (Manor kick) (2 plays, 38 yards) 3:36

(W) Vincent Pham 1 run (Manor kick) (3 plays, 5 yards) 2:09

Fourth quarter

(W) Pham 18 run (Manor kick) (7 plays, 82 yards) 9:09