By Ben Pherson
Post-Bulletin, Austin MN 

NORTHFIELD -- All season, Austin High football coach Tim Hermann has said the Packers will get victories when all three phases -- offense, defense and special teams -- play well.

Saturday night during the Section One, Class AAAA semifinals, only one of those phases was clicking.

But a strong performance by the Austin defense wasn't enough, and the top-seeded Northfield Raiders rolled to a 29-8 victory.

The Raiders advance to meet No. 2 New Prague in Friday's Section One, Class AAAA title game.

Austin's defense was stout, but turnovers and a stalled offense kept the Packers D on the field for far too long, especially in the first half.

The Raiders had the ball for 17:02 in the first half, while the Packers had it for just 6:58.

"Our defense played well," Hermann said. "They gave us some stops, and they gave us the ball in some good spots. But we just didn't perform (on offense)."

The Austin defense forced an early stop against the diverse Northfield offense in the first quarter, but on the punt, the Packers fumbled the ball, and the Raiders recovered at the Austin 9-yard line.

Northfield scored on the next play.

After another defensive stop, the Packers took the ball again, but an interception led to the second Northfield touchdown and a 13-0 lead.

In the second quarter, the Packers again forced a big stop. Northfield lined up to punt, but the snap was low, and the punter was tackled for a 16-yard loss, giving Austin the ball at the Northfield 24-yard line.

But the Packers offense went four-and-out, getting stopped on fourth-and-1.

"I think that was the key series," Hermann said. "We got the turnover, and we didn't put it in (the end zone). Instead of 13-7, it's still 13-0.

"We didn't get the push we needed offensively to open up some running lanes for (Jerrad Ryks). Then they get in their jumbo package, and it's tough for us as smaller guys to stop that. They were able to wear us down."

The final first-half numbers were ugly. The Packers gained just 12 yards of total offense and picked up one first down. Northfield had 166 yards of offense and nine first downs.

Aided by a personal-penalty, the Raiders went up 21-0 in the third thanks to a 13-play, 85-yard drive.

The Packers put their only points on the board early in the third quarter.

Austin quarterback T.J. Fritz hooked up with Jamaal Gibson, who was playing for the first time since Week 4 because of a broken hand, for a 57-yard touchdown strike with 10:29 remaining in the fourth. Ryks ran in the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 21-8.

"It was supposed to be a curl, but I ran a corner," Gibson said. "I was wide open because they didn't see me motioning. T.J. made a perfect throw. I was worried I was going to get caught, but I (got in)."

But Northfield put the game away with a halfback pass. Raiders running back Devonte Jacobs tossed a 25-yard score to Scott Snesrud to lock up the victory.

"In big games, you have to make plays, and they made more plays than we did," Hermann said. "You can't have turnovers in a big game like this. Good teams convert those turnovers into points, and that's what they did. When we played Winona, we were firing on all cylinders. Our offense just wasn't firing (Saturday)."

The Raiders bottled up Ryks and the Packers running game. Ryks finished with 23 yards rushing on 10 carries. Fritz had negative-18 yards rushing.

"When they shut down Jerrad, we have to get other things going and we weren't able to do that," Gibson said. "Our game revolves around Jerrad. ... we needed to get the passing game going, get our receivers moving."

The Packers defense held Northfield to fewer than 300 yards total. The Raiders needed 51 carries to gain 128 yards rushing.

"The defense played well," Hermann said. "I was really happy with those guys. I thought the defensive line and the linebackers did very well."

Austin finished its season 4-6. This was the Packers' first section semifinals game since 2004.

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