NORTHFIELD — The Austin football team showed some real improvements, but it couldn’t get the big play when it needed one as it lost to Northfield 36-20 on the road Friday night.

The Packers (1-4 overall) had some momentum on their side after Andrew Schumacher hauled in a 21-yard TD pass on fourth down from Nate Murphy to cut Northfield’s lead to 23-14 with 5:49 left in the third quarter. Then Austin grabbed even more momentum when Joe Seeman forced a fumble that Gavin Owens recovered at Northfield’s 49-yard line.

But Austin was stuffed on a fourth and one from Northfield’s 40-yard line on that drive and the Raiders (4-1 overall) scored on their next two possessions to ice the game.

“We got better, but we’re still missing a few things that we can do up front,” Austin head coach Brett Vesel said. “We had just a few too many mistakes on the offensive line and we had a couple of bad snaps.”

The Raiders took the momentum at the end of the half when they recovered a high snap by the Packers at Austin’s 10-yard line with under a minute left in the second quarter.

Northfield converted that turnover into three points to go up 10-7 when Reed Roney hit a 21-yard field goal.

Nate Murphy put the Packers on the board in the first half when he busted off a 22-yard TD run on a fourth and goal quarterback scramble. The score capped a 14-play, 90-yard drive that tied the game at 7-7 with 7:54 left in the first half.

Vesel is hoping the Packers can continue to make improvements after Austin suffered a tough homecoming loss to Faribault last week.

“The goal right now is to get better, because we looked like dog meat last week against Faribault,” Vesel said. “I’m proud of the guys for stepping up against a quality team like Northfield. I’m not happy that we lost, but I’m happy with the improvement that we’ve made.”

SCORING SUMMARY

Austin                     0  7     7    6   –  20

Northfield                     7  3  13  13  –  36

First quarter

(N) Jim Vitito 40 run (2 plays, 46 yards) (Roney kick) 3:43

Second quarter

(A) Nate Murphy 22 run (14 plays, 90 yards) 7:54

(N) Reed Roney 21 field goal (4 plays, 5 yards) :33

Third quarter

(N) Vitito 53 run (Roney kick) (1 play, 53 yards) 11:39

(N) Josh Grabau 6 run (kick failed) (4 plays, 30 yards) 8:28

(A) Andrew Schumacher 21 pass from Nate Murphy (Schumacher kick) (6 plays, 67 yards) 5:49

Fourth quarter

(N) Vitito 2 run (pass failed) (11 plays, 57 yards) 9:51

(N) Vitito 15 run (Roney kick) (9 plays, 69 yards) 2:18

(A) Schumacher 25 pass from Murphy (pass failed) :59.8

AUSTIN STATS

Rushing: Joe Seeman, 12-for-65; Nate Murphy, 19-for-54, TD; Hunter Guyette, 11-for-32

Passing: Murphy, 6-for-16, 114, 2 TD

Receiving: Andrew Schumacher, 2-for-46, 2 TD; Gavin Owens, 1-for-43; Connor Byram, 3-for-41; Collin Dahlback, 1-for-11

Defense: Owens 1 fumble recovery

Penalties: 7-for-70

NORTHFIELD STATS

Rushing: 267

Passing: 78

Penalties: 7-for-57