ROCHESTER — For the second straight week, the Packers walked away from a loss on thoughts of what could’ve been.

Austin went into the fourth quarter tied with No. 10 ranked Rochester Mayo, but the Spartans squeaked out a 26-21 win. Austin pulled to within 26-21 when Jason Stoulil hauled in a 12-yard TD pass from Jakob Crouch with 2:40 left in the game, but Austin couldn’t get a stop on Mayo’s final possession as the Spartans ran out the clock.

“I hate it. It stinks,” said Austin cornerback Zach Coffey, who had a 59-yard interception for a TD in the first half. “We just need to clean some stuff up and come back next week. The playoffs aren’t in the beginning of the season, so we just need to keep on improving throughout the year.”

The fourth quarter saw a couple of special teams miscues come back to haunt the Packers (0-3 overall). Mayo ran a punt back to Austin’s 18-yard line that set up a 13-yard TD catch by Mitchell McCarty to put the Spartans up 20-14 with 8:33 left in the game. Austin couldn’t recover Mayo’s ensuing kick-off and the Spartans went 34 yards on eight plays as Greg Henry, who ran for 240 yards and three scores, came up with a 3-yard TD run to make it 26-14 with 8:33 left in the game.

“We work hard on our special teams. I put a lot of time in our special teams and we have a lot of trust in our special teams,” Austin head coach Brett Vesel said. “I would’ve never thought that we would’ve had those kind of breakdowns at those key moments on the kick-off return team and on the punt team. We’ve got to play better on those teams and it’s not for lack of practice.”

Mayo took the early lead in the first quarter as it converted a fourth and four from its own 44-yard line with a 36 yard pass. The Spartans went on to take 7-0 lead when Henry had a 14-yard TD run.

Mayo looked to have control of the momentum when it recovered an one-side kick after that score, but that’s when Coffey picked off a pass and ran back for a 59-yard TD. Coffey also broke up a fourth down pass in the end zone on Mayo’s following possession.

Coffey said he took advantage of a miscue by Mayo quarterback Trajan Grimsrud on the pick.

“I just made a good break on the ball. It was poorly thrown,” he said.

Austin took a 14-7 lead when Jakob Crouch broke free for a 27-yard TD run with 7:47 left in the first half, but the Spartans responded with a six play, 69 yard drive that saw them convert a fourth and 12 from Austin’s 26-yard line. Henry capped that drive with a four-yard TD run.

Austin’s defense racked up seven sacks in the game, but it allowed 345 total yards.

“We still have a lot of room for improvement on both sides of the ball,” Vesel said. “The defense is playing a little more of a complete game, but its still not a complete game. We’ve got things we need to work on. At the end when we needed a stop they just kept running the same play and we couldn’t man up.”

Austin will host No. 1 ranked Mankato West 7 p.m. Friday. The Scarlets beat Rochester John Marshall 24-14.

SCORING SUMMARY

Mayo 7 7 0 13 — 26

Austin 7 7 0 7 — 21

First quarter

(M) Greg Henry 14 run (Noah Fry kick) (8 plays, 75 yards) 7:35

(A) Zach Coffey 59 yard interception return (Nate Conner kick) (1 play, 50 yards) 6:31

Second quarter

(A) Jakob Crouch 27 run (Conner kick) (8 plays, 88 yards) 7:47

(M) Henry 13 run (Fry kick) (9 plays, 69 yards) 4:20

Third quarter

No scoring

Fourth quarter

(M) Mitchell McCarty 13 pass from Trajan Grimsrud (kick failed) (2 plays, 18 yards) 11:52

(M) Henry 3 run (pass failed) (8 plays, 34 yards) 8:33

(A) Jason Stoulil 12 pass from Crouch (Conner kick) (12 plays, 88 yards) 2:40

AUSTIN STATS

Passing: Jakob Crouch, 9-for-21, 108, TD, INT

Receiving: Jason Stoulil, 4-for-72, TD; Nate Conner, 4-for-20; Jany Gash, 4-for-20

Rushing: Brandon Edgar, 13-for-79; Crouch, 6-for-65, TD; Conner, 3-for-5

Sacks: Santiago Tomas-Nicolas (2); Jackson Hample (2); Corey Waller (1); Logan Braaten (1); Spencer Lee (1)

Interceptions: Zach Coffey (1)

Penalties: 8-for-70

MAYO STATS

Rushing: 221; passing: 124; penalties: 5-for-40