Sep. 18—The Austin football team stuck with it after falling behind by 21 points early and they put a second half scare into New Prague, before ultimately falling short by a score of 56-30 in Art Hass Stadium Friday.
The Trojans (2-1 overall) scored twice in the last three minutes with reserves in the game to make the final score more lopsided than the game was, but the Packers were as close as 28-24 after Manny Guy hauled in a 10-yard strike from Jack Lang in the corner of the end zone with 4:06 left in the third quarter.
“We never quit,” said Guy, who had 104 receiving yards. “We stayed in the game and we thought we had a comeback. We worked hard and we fought through it (after the slow start).”
Lang completed all five of his second half passes and two of them went to Guy for scores, including a 54-yarder that brought Austin within 42-30 with 5:49 left in the game.
“We had some fakes in there and the play action was bringing the linebackers up. They were really focusing on our run game in the first half and in the second half, we were able to go deep,” said Lang, a junior. “I can already tell the difference in my play last year compared to this year.”
After trailing 28-7 with three minutes left in the second quarter, the Packers (0-3 overall) took advantage of a couple of New Prague errors to close within 28-17 at the half. The Trojans dropped a punt at their own three-yard line that led to a three-yard TD sneak by Jack Lang and Austin’s Lathan Wilson recovered a fumble at NP’s 32-yard line on the following drive with 14 seconds left.
Lang hit Guy for a 23-yard pass to the nine with one second left and Joe Ewing booted a 23-yard field goal as time expired in the half.
“I’m very proud of the way they competed and fought,” Austin head coach Ed Schmitt said. “They don’t need to hang their heads, we just need to fix the things that we can still fix, like lining up the right way, knowing where we’re going to be on defense and blocking. We made a lot of mental mistakes on both sides of the ball.”
SCORING SUMMARY
New Prague 21 7 7 21 — 56
Austin 0 17 7 6 — 30
First quarter
(NP) Brendan Piper 4 run (6 plays, 67 yards) (Johnson kick)
9:46
(NP) Aiden Jackson 27 run (6 plays, 57 yards) (Johnson kick)
5:14
(NP) Luke Shepard 1 run (4 plays, 30 yards) (Johnson kick)
1:58
Second quarter
(A) Joseph Walker 3 run (Joe Ewing kick) (9 plays, 51 yards) 7:12
(NP) Piper 25 run (Johnson kick)
(8 plays, 70 yards) 3:16
(A) Jack Lang 1 run (Ewing kick) 1:04
(A) Joe Ewing 26 field goal (3 plays, 23 yards) :00
Third quarter
(A) Guy 10 pass from Lang (Ewing kick) (8 plays, 56 yards) 4:06
(N) Jacob Hemann 20 pass from Shepard (Johnson kick) (7 plays, 68 yards) :27
Fourth quarter
(NP) Eddie Sirek 48 run (Johnson kick) (1 play, 48 yards) 9:53
(A) Guy 54 pass from Lang (pass failed) (10 plays, 80 yards) 5:49
(NP) Nick Giesen 20 pass from Shepard (Johnson kick) (7 plays, 51 yards) 2:49
(NP) Kaden Lukkes 52 interception return (Johnson kick) 1:05
AUSTIN STATS
Rushing: Joseph Walker, 16-for-61; Owen Haney, 2-for-10; Lathan Wilson, 6-for-6; Toby Holtz, 1-for-(-1); Aidan Pepper 1-for-(-2); Lang, 12-for-(-6) TD
Passing: Jack Lang, 7-for-12, 133, 2 TDs; Brayden Bishop, 2-for-4, 44, INT
Receiving: Manny Guy, 4-for-101, 2 TDs; Peyton Ransom, 2-for-44; Lathan Wilson, 1-for-22; Isaac Osgood, 1-for-9; Walker, 1-for-3
Defense: Lathan Wilson, 1 fumble recovery; Wyatt Thoma, 1 fumble recovery
Penalties: 2-for-20
NEW PRAGUE STATS
Rushing: 179
Passing: 239
Penalties: 5-for-45