The Austin football team will face off against the top-ranked Class AAAAA team and the defending Class AAAAA state champs in Art Hass Stadium 7 p.m. Friday.

Mankato West (3-0 overall) is not quite as explosive on offense as it was last season, but the Scarlets are still a tough team to match up with. West has already beaten Owatonna and Rochester John Marshall. Scarlet running back Van Neils racked up 197 yards in last week’s win against the Rockets.

“They’re a tough team. They don’t have a lot of weaknesses,” Austin head coach Brett Vesel said. “Every one of [their players] are really solid from what we can tell. They’re fast as usual, and they go hard. They’re coming off a championship year and they’re still running off that.”

The Scarlets are outscoring their opponents on average of 29-10 per game this season and Austin is being outscored 28.7-15.7 per game.

The Packers have leaned on the receiving of Jason Stoulil, who has 17 catches for 249 yards in three games and Brandon Edgar has run for 192 yards in two games.

While West is coming with the No. 1 ranking, Vesel said the Packers aren’t going to be intimidated. Austin had a few players from this year’s team on the squad when Austin played eventual state champ Owatonna two years ago and he’s not expecting his team to back down against the Scarlets.

“I don’t think we’re ever afraid of anybody,” Vesel said. “We know we’ve got to go out there and compete. Our goal is to get better from where we were last weekend and to be in the game and have chance.”