Hulne: Packer football team has momentum
Published 10:37 pm Thursday, October 18, 2018
- Austin’s Connor Byram applies pressure during the first quarter Wednesday night at Art Hass Stadium. Eric Johnson/photodesk @austindailyhearld.com
The Austin football team may be entering the Section 1AAAAA tournament as a No. 5 seed and matched up against a team that beat them by over 20 points in the season opener, but it would be unwise to count the Packers out.
Despite dealing with lineup changes due to injuries over the past few weeks, the Packers are starting to figure things out.
Austin (2-6 overall) went down the wire with state-ranked Mankato West (7-1 overall) and Winona (8-0 overall) over the past few weeks and it also erased a 16-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Mankato East.
The Packers are hoping they can do more than keep the game close when they put their season on the line against No. 3 seeded Rochester Mayo at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Spartans (5-3 overall) beat Austin 53-28 in the season opener in a contest that saw the Packers struggle with turnovers and limiting big plays.
Austin will have to lock down Mayo standout wide receiver Calvin Dixon and it will have to come up with some big plays of its own if it wants to keep things going.
From what we’ve seen recently, those things can happen if the Packers play their best.
