ROCHESTER — Just when things started to go right for the Austin football team, things took a sudden turn in the wrong direction as the Packers dropped their season opener 52-38 to Rochester Mayo Friday night.

After falling behind early the Packers came back when Agwa Nywesh picked off a pass to set up a seven-yard TD run by Sam Hagan that made it a 31-21 game. Austin pulled to within 31-28 when Nate Murphy hit Connor Byram for a 26-yard TD on fourth and eight with 1:58 left in the third quarter.

Unfortunately for Austin (0-1 overall), the Spartans had an answer as they scored three TDs in less than two minutes. Mayo forced two of Austin’s five turnovers in that stretch  — including an interception and a 42-yard TD run-back by DeMonte Simmons to close the quarter.

“I felt we did a good job of coming out in the second half and then we made some mistakes, but we did some good things,” Austin head coach Brett Vesel said. “The kids played hard and we’ve just got to continue to get better.”

Austin played much of the game without Joe Seeman, a standout on both sides of the ball, as he was injured on a first quarter carry. Hagan racked up 107 yards rushing and quarterback Nate Murphy ran for 135 yards and a TD.

“We still made mistakes that we shouldn’t have made, even with Joe being out and the 900 guys we had cramping,” Vesel said. “We were struggling to get guys in and out with cramps.”

The Spartans made some big plays in their passing game in the first half as Cade Sheehan hit Calvin Dixon for a 30-yard score on third and 18 to put Mayo up 24-7 and he found Dixon on a fade for a 27-yard TD with just 5.7 seconds left in the first half to put the Spartans up 31-14.

SCORING SUMMARY

Austin      0  14  14  0  –  28

Mayo 14  17  21  0  –  52

First quarter

(M) Cade Sheehan 7 run (kick failed) (1 play, 7 yards) 6:59

(M) Israel Lozoya 33 run (Holcomb from Sheehan) (5 plays, 65 yards) 3:00

Second quarter

(M) Jake McCabe 24 field goal (5 plays, 30 yards) 11:51

(A) Connor Byram 15 pass from Murphy (Schumacher kick) (2 plays, 29 yards) 7:33

(M) Calvin Dixon 30 pass from Sheehan (McCabe kick) (7 plays, 70 yards) 3:23

(A) Murphy 17 run (Schumacher kick) (7 plays, 69 yards) 1:23

(M) Dixon 27 pass from Sheehan (McCabe kick) (5 plays, 70 yards) :57

Third quarter

(A) Sam Hagan 7 run (Schumacher kick) (2 plays, 29 yards) 5:14

(A) Byram 26 pass from Murphy (Schumacher kick) (4 plays, 27 yards) 1:58

(M) Lozoya 56 run (McCabe kick) (1 ply, 56 yards) 1:47

(M) Sheehan 1 run (McCabe kick) (2 plays, 7 yards) :6.9

(M) DeMonte Simmons 42 INT (McCabe kick) (1 play, 42 yards) :00

Fourth quarter

No scoring

AUSTIN STATS

Rushing: Nate Murphy, 20-for-135, TD; Sam Hagan, 14-for-107, TD; Joe Seeman, 11-for-53; Logan O’Rourke, 4-for-2

Passing: Murphy, 4-for-17, 83, 2 TDs, 3 INT; O’Rourke, 0-for-1

Receiving: Connor Byram, 3-for-60, TD; Gavin Owens, 1-for-23

Penalties: 6-for-40

MAYO STATS

Rushing: 162

Passing: 219

Penalties: 9-for-50