The Austin Packers came into Friday night’s game having had some good wins against teams like Edina, New Prague and Eastview, but they hadn’t put together a complete game.
Until now.
The Packers, who had started slowly in several games, got off to a 15-2 start and never looked back, rolling to a 74-24 win over Rochester Century in Packer Gym. The win was Austin’s 18th in a row at home and ran their season record to 12-0, 6-0 in the Big Nine.
Joe Aase, who was presented a game ball by Coach Kris Fadness before the game in recognition of reaching the 1,000-point career scoring mark Tuesday at Faribault, led the Packers’ scoring against Century with 20 points. Zach Wessels added 15, Tom Aase 9, Bret Lukes 8, Ajuda Nywesh and Collin Weisert 5 each; Ben Bumgarner, Gach Gach and Jacob Kempen each had a 3, while Curtis Oberbroeckling with 2 and Zach Coffey with 1 rounded out the scoring. Century’s 6’10” center Carter Evans, who will play for Division II Northern State next year, had 14 points for the Panthers.
See the Austin Daily Herald and Rochester Post-Bulletin stories, as well as the KAAL TV Sports Zone.
Here are the game highlights:
And here is the pre-game 1,000-point recognition:
Next up for the Packers are the Winona Winhawks on the road on Tuesday. Their next home game is Thursday against Rochester John Marshall. The Rockets are 11-2 on the year and tied with the Packers atop the Big Nine standings.