MANKATO — The Austin football team made some big plays early on, but they couldn’t keep it going against the No. 2 ranked team in Class AAAAA. Mankato West had too much offensive firepower as they topped the Packers 58-15 in Mankato Friday.

Austin’s Jany Gash picked off a pass on the first play of the game and Jesse Synoground picked off another pass to end a Mankato West drive with the Scarlets leading 7-0. That’s when Tate Hebrink hit Gash for a 33-yard TD strike to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:28 left in the first quarter.

The Scarlets (4-0 overall) had an answer as Charles Terry broke a screen pass for a 50-yard TD on 2nd and 20 and the West recovered the ensuing kick-off and turned that possession into a quick TD to go up 21-7.

The second quarter saw the Scarlets score 16 points in just a three-minute spurt as Robert Meidl ran for his third TD of the game, West scored a safety on high snap by Austin and Terry ran the kickoff back 80-yards for a TD.

“We need to play a little bit tougher,” Austin head coach Brett Vesel said. “There were so many plays where we were unblocked it was crazy. We’ve got to make the tackle and we practice tackling every single day.”

The Packers (0-4 overall) struggled with offense in the second half until Sam Hagan scored on a two-yard run against mostly reserves for West.

Vesel said his team continues to work hard every day.

“I love coaching them,” he said. “I hate losing and I know they hate losing too. We can’t really worry about our record right now. We have to work on improving ourselves and that starts in practice.”

The Packers will play at Owatonna (2-2 overall) 7 p.m. Friday.

SCORING SUMMARY

Austin 7    0     0  8  —  15

West 21  23  14  0  —  58

First period

(M) Robert Meidl 2 run (Tyler Defor kick) (7 plays, 66 yards) 8:48

(A) Jany Gash 33 pass from Tate Hebrink (Jakob Crouch kick) (3 plays, 32 yards) 5:28

(M) Charles Terry 50 pass from Meidl (Defor kick) (6 plays, 72 yards) 2:13

(M) Meidl 2 run (Defor kick) (3 plays, 31 yards) :51

Second period

(M) Meidl 2 run (Defor kick) (7 plays, 44 yards) 10:14

(M) safety 8:32

(M) Terry 80 kick return (Defor kick) (1 play, 80 yards) 8:19

(M) Wesley Henderson 4 pass from Meidl (Defor kick) (8 plays, 49 yards) 2:29

Third period

(M) Terry 1 run (Defor kick) (6 plays, 54 yards) 8:06

(M) Kevin Whitfield 12 pass from Jack Foster (Defor kick) (8 plays, 56 yards) 1:33

Fourth period

(A) Sam Hagan 2 run (Trent Brown from Hebrink) (13 plays, 80 yards) 8:53

AUSTIN STATS

Rushing: Tabarie Gunsallus, 15-for-54; Tate Hebrink, 4-for-18; Sam Hagan, 6-for-15, TD; Nate Murphy, 1-for-2

Passing: Hebrink, 10-for-29, 127, TD, 3 INT; Murphy, 1-for-5, 6

Receiving: Jany Gash, 4-for-78, TD; Jackob Crouch, 3-for-25; Gavin Owens, 3-for-24; Isaac Kenyon, 1-for-6; Gunsallus, 1-for-(-1)

Interceptions: Gash (1); Jesse Synoground (1)

Penalties: 1-for-10

WEST STATS

Rushing: 221

Passing: 174

Penalties: 5-for-40