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AHS Boys to Sign National Letters of Intent Monday

14 Nov

Austin High School seniors (and cousins) Joe Aase and Tom Aase will sign the National Letter of Intent to formally accept college basketball scholarship offers on Monday, Nov. 19.

The signing ceremony will be held in the Packer Gym Lobby at Austin High School at 4 p.m.

The event is open to the public. Members of the Packer Fast Break Club are particularly invited.

Here is the text from the Austin High School media release:

  • Austin High School Senior Standout Joe Aase will sign a National Letter of Intent to play Basketball at Davidson. Davidson is a Division I school located north of Charlotte, North Carolina in the town of Davidson, North Carolina. Davidson is coached by Bob McKillop, who is in his 23rd season at Davidson. The Wildcats 2011-12 record was 25-8. They won the Southern Conference tournament as well as qualified for the NCAA tournament, losing 62-69 to Louisville in the first round.
  • Austin High School senior standout Tom Aase will sign a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at The University of Sioux Falls, located in Sioux Falls, SD. The University of Sioux Falls is a Division II NCAA program that participates in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Cougars are coached by Chris Johnson who is in his 5th season. They finished 20-9 last season.

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Packers Open Fall League with Big Wins

21 Oct

Contributions to the Packer Fast Break Club make it possible for the Austin boys basketball team to participate in Summer team camps and tournaments and the Breakdown Sports Fall League. The Fall League games are held at Kennedy High School in Bloomington, where the boys get to play against top competition from the Twin Cities metro area.

The Breakdown league started Saturday, Oct. 20 with two games against teams ranked in the top 10 in the Class AAA preseason polls. The Packers built a 52-17 lead against Academy of Holy Angels before coasting to a 54-30 win. Holy Angels was missing at least one key player, but in the second game the third-ranked Packers faced a loaded team from St. Paul Johnson, which is ranked second. The Packers got off to an early lead, but the Governors battled back to tie the game at halftime. Tom Aase was fouled behind the arc with four minutes to play, and he made all three free throws to give the Packers the lead for good as they went on to a 43-34 win. Here are the highlights:

To support the Packers’ activities financially, join the 3-Point Club, advertise in the game-day program, or come to one of our fundraising events.

Packers Impressive at UNI Team Camp

24 Jun

The 2012-13 Packers are participating in team camps and tournaments this Summer, working on skill development and getting experience playing together. In the last two weeks they played at the Augustana team camp and also at the University of Minnesota, but in both events they were missing one or more of their key returning regulars.

This weekend was the first time having the full team available, and the Packers put on some impressive performances at the University of Northern Iowa, posting a 4-2 overall record. On Saturday afternoon, playing in the McLeod Center, the Packers defeated Maple Grove, a Class AAAA team from the suburban Twin Cities, by a 71-47 margin:

In the final game of the weekend, the Packers faced an AAU team from the Twin Cities, the Howard Pulley Panthers. With less-than-ideal conditions for shooting video from underneath one of the baskets, here are a few highlights from the Packers’ 10-point win:

Thanks to all of the members of the Fast Break Club for your contributions, which provided the funds needed to pay the entry fees for these team camps and tournaments.

 

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Honoring our Seniors

26 Mar

At tonight’s year-end celebration of the Austin Packers’ historic season that saw them return to the State Tournament for the first time in 30 years, five seniors will be specially recognized: Ryan Larson, Goliath Oboyo, Nate Schwab, Zach Vierkandt and student manager J.J. Green.

The seniors provided important leadership for the team, and also made some huge plays throughout the year. Here are highlights from their dream season:

Ryan Larson

Goliath Oboyo

Nate Schwab

Zach Vierkandt

We wish all the Packer seniors great success in the future and thank them for their contributions to Austin basketball!

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Celebrate with the Packers Monday!

23 Mar

To thank Packer fans for their tremendous support this season, the Austin High School boys’ basketball team and the Packer Fast Break Club are opening their year-end celebration and awards ceremony to the entire community. There is no charge for admission.

KAAL Sports Director Caleb Ostrander will emcee the program, which will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 26, in Knowlton Auditorium at AHS. Coaches from the younger teams will introduce and recognize their players, and then Packer Head Coach Kris Fadness will reflect on the season and present Varsity awards. Seniors will be recognized and they in turn will present their humorous Captains Awards “roasting” the younger team members.

A reception will follow the program, and Packer players will be serving cookies and punch to the community members attending.

The year-end event is customarily just for team members and parents, but Austin basketball fans were a huge factor in the Packers’ great season, including a perfect 11-0 regular season home record and the Packers’ first Big Nine title since 1999, even donning “Sixth Man” T-shirts later in the year. And of course, in the last regular season game, they couldn’t resist storming the floor:

 

The crowds were huge for the first two section games, which led to two more home wins, and then Packer fans turned the Mayo Civic Center into a sea of red for the section finals (click to enlarge)…

… and while security personnel prevented Packer fans from storming the floor, they were even more delirious in the stands after the game-winning play:

 

With the Packers in the state tournament for the first time in three decades, Williams Arena was awash in red as well:

The Austin crowd was likely the largest of any of the AAA schools. In fact, John Millea of the Minnesota State High School League said, “The enthusiasm meter was nearly broken by the fans from Austin, who took over Williams Arena to watch their team play at state for the first time in 30 years.” Here’s a sampling of the enthusiasm:

 

Please join us Monday night to celebrate the return of Austin Packer Basketball to state prominence! Use this Facebook event to let us know you’re coming (and to invite your friends) to help us in planning, but if you’re not on Facebook, please just come anyway!

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