Austin at Mayo
Tuesday, 7 p.m., Mayo Stadium
Section 1AAAAA quarterfinal
Coaches: Austin, Brett Vesel (first season, 2-6); Mayo, Donny Holcomb (first season, 5-3).
Records: No. 6-seeded Austin, 2-6; No. 3-seeded Mayo, 5-3.
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Last week: Austin lost at Albert Lea, 40-19; Mayo lost at Owatonna, 28-7.
Last meeting: Eric Manges passed for 246 yards and four touchdowns, and Alex Proell ran for 113 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, as Mayo beat Austin, 42-14, on Sept. 28, at Austin.
The series: Mayo leads the all-time series, 22-20-1.
Austin notes: The Packers have allowed an average of 41.0 points over their past four games. … Austin quarterback Ryan Synoground and receiver Marcus Stoulil had their biggest games of the season against Mayo on Sept. 28. Synoground passed for 253 yards, while Stoulil caught eight balls for 135 yards. … Austin hasn’t defeated Mayo since a 28-21 game at Austin on Oct. 8, 2004. … The Packers last postseason victory came on Oct. 27, 2009, when they beat Winona, 18-13, in a Section 1AAAA quarterfinal.
Mayo notes: The Spartans have lost two consecutive games after a five-game winning streak. The last time Mayo lost three consecutive games was the 2004 season, when it had a five-game losing streak. … Two players are making their way up in the Mayo record book. QB Eric Manges is sixth on the single-season passing yards list (1,284) and is tied for 10th in touchdown passes in a season (11). Receiver Mike Fix has the fifth-most catches in a season (35) and third-most in a career (66). He also has the third-most receiving yards in a season (597) and career (1,162).
Coach Vesel says: "It's always important to go back and watch and see what we didn't do well (in the first game against Mayo); it will help us better prepare for this one. I still feel they're beatable, and yet they're a very, very good football team. We'll need some breaks and we'll need to play our best if we're going to get it done."
Coach Holcomb says: "We have to watch (Austin's) passing game and offensive production. They had 91 offensive plays against us (on Sept. 28). I don't think I've ever been involved in a game like that. They'll make adjustments and it'll be more even than the first time we played. We're not a team that can mess around. We need to execute well or we're going to get beat."
— Jason Feldman
