Tag Archives: Jacob

6th Straight Win for Packers

By Scott A. Kolb
Post-Bulletin, Austin MN 

Youth Soccer Night at Art Hass Stadium provided the perfect setting for the sixth straight win by the Austin Packers.

With a lot of younger players watching from the stands, the Austin boys put on an offensive show in a 5-1 win over Rochester John Marshall.

The Packers scored three goals in the first half to put the visiting John Marshall Rockets in a deep hole for this Big Nine Conference game. The comfortable lead allowed the home fans to enjoy an extended halftime with the little soccer players getting a chance to play on the big field.

When the halftime fun was over, the youngsters shook hands with the Packers as they took the field for the second half. The kids all received a team poster and then they got to watch the big boys continue their offensive display.

“I’m glad we had a nice turnout with the young kids and it looked like they had a good time,” Austin coach Jens Levisen said. “This was a fun night for the players in our youth program and they got the chance to meet the guys on the varsity. Hopefully, the way we played in the game inspired them to continue developing their soccer skills.”

Passing to the open man and getting a flurry of good shots enabled the Packers to dominate the Rockets in the conference win. Henry Darling, who recently returned from a suspension, got the Packers rolling with an early goal.

Getting a shooter like Henry Darling back made the Austin offense even more dangerous. Darling scored another goal in the second half as the Packers won their third straight Big Nine game.

“I noticed in the first half that I could get away from their defenders and my teammates hit me with some nice passes,” Darling said. “I’m getting back into the groove of the game and scoring two goals always helps your confidence. Their defenders got kind of frustrated in the second half and started grabbing a lot, but we got through it with a win.”

Dante Ortiz made it a 2-0 lead for the Packers midway through the first half. The goal by Ortiz came off an assist from Jacob Brehmer.

The offensive forays into the JM end of the field never ceased as Austin fired a total of 23 shots on the night. The Packers would add another goal to their lead late in the first half.

Larson #1

Larson #1

Jacob Larson had the assist on the opening goal by Darling and his passing set up another scoring opportunity inside the final seven minutes of the half. Alex Klock took the pass from Larson and beat the JM keeper for a three-goal lead at the break.

 

“We worked the offense pretty well in the first half and got a lot of good looks,” Larson said. “We did a decent job of using the short passes to get the ball to the fast guys on the outside. The strong offense kept the ball in their end and allowed us to play good defense.”

Packers goalie Ryan Rasell spent most of the game watching his teammates kick the ball around the other end of the field. Rasell only faced a total of five shots and had four saves. He almost recorded his fifth straight shutout, but the Rockets got a goal in the 68th minute.

By that time, the Packers had already put the score out of reach. Physical play became a characteristic of the second half as each team was issued a pair of yellow cards.

The tide turned for good against the Rockets when Ortiz got behind the defense for an open shot with 25 minutes left to play. Ortiz was knocked down by a JM defender and Austin was awarded a penalty kick.

Tim Horn took the penalty shot for the Packers and nailed it for a 4-0 lead. Just a few minutes later, Horn got the assist on Darling’s second goal. This gave the Packers an insurmountable five-goal lead.

“We have a lot of different guys that can score goals and that’s what makes our offense tough to stop,” Levisen said. “The defense can’t just key on one guy, because we keep moving it around the field. The guys trust each other when they make a pass, and everybody keeps looking for shots. The team is attacking and playing well.”

Austin (7-2, 3-2 Big Nine) travels to Rochester Mayo for a key conference showdown on Tuesday night.

Packers come out firing in 5-1 win over Rockets

From the Austin Daily Herald (Rocky Hulne):

The Packer offense keeps rolling.

Austin's Howie Underwood kicks the ball from Rochester John Marshall's Taylor Kloss during the first half Thursday night at Art Hass Stadium

Austin's Howie Underwood kicks the ball from Rochester John Marshall's Taylor Kloss during the first half Thursday night at Art Hass Stadium

The Austin boys soccer team won its sixth straight match with a 5-1 win over Rochester John Marshall at Art Hass Stadium Thursday.

Austin (7-2 overall, 4-2 Big Nine) got the ball rolling when Henry Darling scored one of his two breakaway goals on a deep lob by Jacob Larson in the 11th minute. Darling is finally starting to get his legs back into it after re-joining the Packers a few matches ago.

“I haven’t played very well the past few games and I’m still getting back in the groove of things,” the senior forward said. “At the beginning of the game I wasn’t sure how fast their defenders were, but I kind of noticed I’d be able to get away with (my speed) early on.”

The Packer offense fired off 23 shots Thursday and it has scored at least three goals six times this season. That trend continued against JM (0-8-1 overall, 0-4-1 Big Nine) as the Packers cruised.

Dante Ortiz knocked in a rebound of a miss by Jacob Brehmer in the 19th minute and Alex Klock scored on a 15-yard shot from the center on an assist from Larson in the 34th minute.

“A lot of times in high scoring games you like to run the long ball a lot,” Larson said. “We did a good job of making short passes, getting it to our fast guys and capitalizing on all of our opportunities.”

Austin's Francisco Torres settles the ball along the sidelines Thursday night in the first half against Rochester John Marshall at Art Hass Stadium.

Austin's Francisco Torres settles the ball along the sidelines Thursday night in the first half against Rochester John Marshall at Art Hass Stadium.

Austin took a 3-0 lead to the half and Ortiz instigated some more Packer offense in the match’s 55th minute. He got to the goal and drew a penalty, which set up a penalty kick that Tim Horn knocked in. Horn set up Austin’s last score on an assist to Darling.

Lucas Djehdian scored in the 68th minute for the Rockets.

While they stayed up on the scoreboard, the Packers also kept their cool against a physical John Marshall team.

“Their defenders definitely practice grabbing at you when you run by,” Darling said. “It was frustrating, but we got through it. Scoring helps and it gives you more confidence.”

Austin head coach Jens Levisen was pleased with how his team handled themselves. Austin goal keeper Ryan Rasell, who had four saves, was knocked to the ground late in the contest, but nobody retaliated for Austin.

“They’ve really done well (with keeping they’re cool),” Levisen said. “You always wonder if when they’re challenged are they going to do what they’re supposed to or default to instinct where it’s ‘this guy hit me, I’m going to hit him.’ They don’t do that and they keep their composure. That will take them a ways.”

The night was youth soccer appreciation night and the Packers represented well to the youngsters.

“I’m glad we had a good turnout with the kids,” Levisen said. “I remember when I was in high school and it meant a lot to the kids to come out and just shake hands with the varsity guys. All of them were so jazzed to be there. It’s a fun thing.”

Austin 5 Faribault 0 (9.21.09)

From the Austin Daily Herald:

The Packers weren’t messing around. The Austin boys soccer team got off to a fast start in a 5-0 win over Faribault in Art Hass Stadium Monday night.

Austin's Martin Manocchio (right) battles for posession with Faribault's Ben Heppner during the Packers' 5-0 win over the Falcons at Art Hass Stadium Monday. Manocchio scored two goals in the win.

Austin's Martin Manocchio (right) battles for posession with Faribault's Ben Heppner during the Packers' 5-0 win over the Falcons at Art Hass Stadium Monday. Manocchio scored two goals in the win.

Senior forward Martin Manocchio scored two breakaway goals in the first eight minutes and Austin (6-2 overall, 3-2 Big Nine) went on to score four times in the first half. Manocchio’s first goal came off of a strong boot from keeper Ryan Rasell, and the second came on a bomb from Jordan Broers. Austin’s Alex Klock said the Falcons (2-5 overall, 0-3 Big Nine) were practically daring the Packers to go deep. “Faribault pushes up towards the half line a lot. So we ended up with a lot more long through balls. ” he said. “If they want to play that off-side trap on us, we’ll eat them up every time. We’ve got people who can beat their defense one on one.” Pedro Herrera scored in the 18th minute on the first of Rolando Rubio’s three assists. Peter Lindahl scored in the 32nd minute for Austin and Herrera scored again in the 59th minute. Klock said the Packers, who have won five straight, still remembered when they settled for a tie at Faribault last season. “Faribault’s a rivalry game and we feel like we have a lot better team this year and we had a lot of momentum coming in. When we played Pine Island (Saturday) and got the lead, we slowed it down,” Klock said. “There was definitely no intention of doing that here, no matter what the score was. We’d of ran it to 30 if we could.” Austin head coach Jens Levisen was pleased with what his team showed, although he thought they may have tried to push it up-field a few too many times. “They knew they wanted to come and show something tonight and we played solid soccer tonight,” Levisen said. “I saw a few more through balls then I’d like to see, but that’s how they were setting up their defense and you have to react to it.” Austin will host its youth soccer night Thursday. All youth soccer players wearing a jersey will get in for free and there will be two youth games at halftime. Players will also receive a free poster of the Austin varsity soccer team.

Jacob Scores a Goal in the Pine Island Game

(Jacob is on the near side with the black knee brace on)

From the Austin Daily Herald:

Austin's Jacob Larson is sent flying after colliding with Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa's Noah Smith in the first half Saturday afternoon at Art Hass Stadium.

Austin's Jacob Larson is sent flying after colliding with Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa's Noah Smith in the first half Saturday afternoon at Art Hass Stadium.

The Austin boys soccer team got the whole team involved in an 11-0 win over Pine Island/Zumbrota/Mazeppa at Art Hass Stadium.

The Packers (5-2 overall) attempted 48 shots and had eight different players score a goal as they cruised to victory. Jacob Brehmer knocked in a career-high three scores for Austin, but he was just as happy to see his teammates get off the bench in the second half.

“We had a bunch of guys get in and score who probably didn’t think they were going to get in,” he said. “That was good.”

Brehmer’s third goal bounced off the top post and deflected off the PIZM goal keeper for a score.

Alex Klock knocked in a point blank shot and Brehmer knocked in a corner kick from Rolando Rubio on a header 15 minutes into the game.

Rubio finished with four assists for Austin as he made a habit out of penetrating the defense and dishing off.

“This game I was just looking to pass and we were playing as a team instead of people looking for their own shot,” said Rubio, a junior. “It was fun, because everyone got in.”

Francisco Torres knocked in a crossing pass from Rubio to make it 4-0 in the 31st minute and Martin Manocchio, who scored twice, booted a 30-yard shot through the goal with four seconds left in the first half.

“We moved the ball around well and we created some opportunities,” Austin head coach Jens Levisen said.

In the second half, Jacob Larson had a goal and an assist for Austin, Lucas Akkerman scored a goal, freshman Jake Hagen-Erickson had a goal and an assist, Andrew Striker scored a goal, and Klock had an assist.

Akkerman and Striker had their first career varsity goals.

The Packers reduced their lineup to nine players with 28 minutes left and still scored twice. They reduced the lineup to eight players with 10 minutes left and scored one last time.

“I didn’t want us to keep pounding on them. We had already done enough to show that we were the better team,” Levisen said. “I never feel quite right after a game like this. The guys have worked so hard and they know how to play the game. That’s reflected in the score, but I didn’t want it to be that much. You can’t stop them from playing soccer.”

Austin keeper Ryan Rasell had five saves, but he made a diving stop and a point blank stop in the last 10 minutes.

Austin will host its youth soccer night Thursday. All youth soccer players wearing a jersey will get in for free and there will be two youth games at halftime.

Austin U17 Boys earn STATE SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP!

 

Jacob Larson and Martin Manocchio, Age 9

Jacob Larson and Martin Manocchio, Age 9

A few years ago, this team did not win a single game. (U9- they were 9 years old…)

 

 

 

They stuck together, worked hard, listened to their coaches, and when they were 13, they advanced to the State tournament, taking 2nd place.  

Bumped up a level, they again had to work through some tough times and improve their skills.  Last summer, when they were 16, they also qualified for the State tournament, but did not make it to the final round.

The team overcame some challenges during this season, but did not qualify automatically for State. (The first place team from each district auto-advances to State…this year it was the LaCrosse team, who beat Austin twice during the regular season.)  HOWEVER, in the playoffs, Austin kept winning until they finally beat the South St Paul team for the opportunity to play at the State Tournament in Coon Rapids, MN.  They defeated Central and Mankato to earn their way to the State FINAL. (A note of bragging here:  Jacob Larson scored the last goal against Mankato, on a header/corner kick combo!)

 

An intense game! Goalie Jacob Brehmer with a save!

An intense game! Goalie Jacob Brehmer with a save!

Last night was the FINAL Championship game versus none other than the team from LaCrosse, the team from our district which had previously beaten the Austin boys, twice,  and had gone on to win their bracket of the State tournament.  The game was intense and fast-paced.  Early in the game, Austin’s goalie, Ryan,  came out to get the ball, defending the goal.  A red card was issued to him, and Austin was forced to play the rest of the game short one player, and to put another player in the goal.  The fans all wondered what this would do to the morale of the team.  Austin came on strong, playing hard and working together as a team, making up for playing short by stepping up their level of determination.  LaCrosse scored, but the Austin boys did not give up.  They kept the pressure on, and eventually scored a goal to tie the game.  The score remained tied until the end of regulation time.  Then came the overtime, consisting of 2 5-minute halves.  Still tied!

 

6329_1192800413773_1041289153_600672_7190165_sThe most intense moments of the game came in the shoot-out which followed.  Each team choose 5 players which would shoot, one-on-one, with the opposing teams’ goalie.  Alternating teams, best of 5 would win the championship.  At the “bottom of the fifth inning” (to borrow a baseball term!) the Austin team was up by one, and LaCrosse was up with the chance to even the score, which would have sent the game into sudden death shoot out.

Austin’s substitute goalie, Jacob Brehmer, faced yet another tough challenge….and STOPPED the ball!  Austin WINS!6329_1192608088965_1041289153_600264_2231769_n

“…not quite fast enough…”

Compare the two sports headlines (in the printed edition) from Monday June 8, regarding the State track meet….the Rochester JM senior is rightfully deemed “very fast” and congratulations to him for a wonderful achievement. On the other hand, the Austin boys were handed a headline that was not quite as flattering, “Fast, not quite fast enough.”  While I understand the premise behind the words, (it is correct that the Austin boys did not return with a 1st place finish) to pronounce the Austin boys insufficiently fast implies that they failed at the State meet.  Nothing is further from the truth. These boys have been consistently improving their times, even setting new performance records at the State meet. Of the seven Packer boys that qualified for State this year, just one is a senior.  Expect that those returning next year will be putting forth maximum effort. Perhaps next year they will earn a headline of “very fast” instead of “not fast enough.”
tim e 800Incidently, the Austin Packer boys finished 18th of 65 teams at the State meet, JM finished 28th. The other Rochester schools (Century and Mayo) were not listed.

Here is the full story from the Austin Post Bulletin online, where the headline is really the “sub-headline “Packers  1600 meter relay finishes fourth”

ST. PAUL — The fastest time in the Class AA state track and field preliminaries didn’t stand up for Austin’s 1600 relay team in Saturday’s finals at Hamline University.

will 400The Austin Packers had a chance to bring home a state title after the relay team of juniors Will Darling, Jacob Bentley, Tim Erickson and Henry Darling had the top time in Friday’s preliminaries. But the race in the finals was a different story and the team finished fourth with a time of 3:25.07.

“I think a lot of it was because some of the teams relaxed in the preliminaries to get better times (today),” Bentley said of the fourth-place finish in the relay. “We went out really hard in the semis. They just had more left.”

The Darling brothers also did well individually on the final day of the state meet. Henry got seventh in the 400 meter dash, coming in at 50.56 seconds.

Will Darling braved the slick track conditions in the 300 meter hurdles and had a strong race. He came in with a time of 40.47 seconds, and a fifth-place finish.

“Fifth is really good for me,” Will Darling said of his finish in the hurdles. “I was seeded eighth, and I’m just happy to be up at the podium at all.”

There was one more event for the Packers in the state finals.

The Austin 3200meter team of juniors Jacob Larson, Christian Folken, Tim Erickson, and senior Kyle Dammen finished in sixth-place on the day. The Packers 3,200 relay came in with a time of 8:02.61.

Packers aiming for finals at state track meet

(From the Austin Daily Herald, by Rocky Hulne)

austinstateThe Austin boys track and field team is hoping for a solid showing as seven of its athletes will compete in the Class ‘AA’ state track and field meet on Friday and Saturday at Hamline University in St. Paul.

The Packers are sending three individuals and two relay teams to state, after sending just one relay team last season. Of the qualifiers just one — 4 x 800-meter relay team member Kyle Dammen — is a senior. The rest are juniors.

“We’ve got a good group of juniors right now,” Austin head coach Tony Einertson said. “We’re hoping to improve guys to get them to the finals (by finishing in the top nine in the preliminaries) and get them on the podium (by finishing in the top eight overall). Some of our qualifying times are deceiving because we had a windy day at the section meet.”

Tim Erickson, who qualified in the 800-meter run, will also run for the 4 x 800-meter relay and the 4 x 400-meter relay. He is the first Austin runner to qualify for state in three events since Blake Wagnen did it three years ago.

“It’s exciting to go in all my main events,” said Erickson. “I guess it really hasn’t sunk in quite yet that I’m going in three events. Hopefully I can do well in all of them.”

In the 800-meter run, which has its preliminary Friday at 12:14 p.m., Erickson has a qualifying time of 2:02.26, which is the 15th fastest time of 16 runners. He has run the race as fast as two minutes in the past.

“There are a lot of good 800 runners up there,” he said. “The state record holder will be there, so hopefully I’ll get to run against him. I didn’t do great when I ran at the Hamline (Elite Meet), but hopefully I can do better this time.”

Will Darling is making a return trip to the state meet in the 300-meter hurdles — which has a preliminary race Friday at 11:50 a.m. He is coming off a section meet where he didn’t have his best race and had to finish strong just to get to state,

“I don’t want to go in with too much confidence,” Will Darling said. “I want to go in feeling I have to run my best race. I think (the section meet) kind of made me realize I can’t just go into every race and do amazing. I really have to work for it.”

While his qualifying time of 40.46 seconds is the 12th fastest time, Will Darling ran a career-best time of 40.2 at the Big Nine Meet recently.

“I’m going to try and make it to finals, but there’s more extreme times this year,” said Will Darling, who took 10th in the preliminaries last year. “I might still make finals, but we’ll just have to see.”

Henry Darling is making his first individual trip to the state meet — he was on the 4 x 400 relay team last year that went to state. This year, he’ll run in the 400-meter dash — which has a preliminary race Friday at 11:30 a.m.

After soccer season wrapped up, Henry Darling has put in a lot of time of in the weight room and he began hard running workouts in January to prepare for this season.

“It feels a lot better now that I actually made it. That hard work wasn’t for nothing,” he said.

In the Section 1AA meet, he took first despite being the third-seeded runner.

“It was pretty close at the Big Nine meet between me and (Albert Lea’s Matt) Tiegs, he started really close to me and I didn’t see him coming and that’s why he beat me,” Henry Darling said. “In sections, I got to see where he was and caught him at the end.”

Henry Darling’s qualifying time of 51 seconds is the 12th fastest out of the 16 runners in his preliminary.

The 4 x 400-meter relay team, which consist of Erickson, both Darlings, and Jacob Bentley is hoping to make it to Saturday after missing the finals last year. The preliminaries will be held Friday at 1:15 p.m.

Austin ran the race in 3:26.56 at the Big Nine meet, but their qualifying time of 3:29.65 is the slowest qualifying time of all 10 teams. However, the team was a bit fatigued and it was running with strong winds on Saturday.

“There’s no reason we shouldn’t be going to at least try to win and at least make finals this year,” Bentley, who was an alternate on the team last year, said.

The 4 x 800-meter relay team — which consists of Erickson, Dammen, Christian Folken, and Jacob Larson, came a long way this year as it ran a season’s best time of 8:07.24 to get to state. That time is the sixth fastest of the nine qualifying teams and the Packers will race in the finals Saturday at 9:13 a.m.

“I think there was definitely a surprise (to make it to state) but we did know we had a shot at it,” Dammen said.

Folken is hoping for a strong performance from a team that has only one runner with state experience (Erickson).

“We just want to make a big showing,” he said. “We know we have a lot of talent on this relay team, so hopefully we can give it our all and finish in the top half.”

The journey to state has been a long one for relay team that has had to run in the shadows of the 4 x 400-meter team.

“At the beginning of the year, our expectations weren’t exactly sky high,” Larson said. “Our team has never been characterized by an amazing 4 x 8 team. All of us banded together and improved our times and it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come this season.”

Einertson was recently announced as Section 1AA track and field coach of the year. It’s an honor, he quickly credits to his team.

“It’s a nice honor from the coaches. The kids have had a fantastic season and it’s really their award. I just get to be the one that accepts it for them,” he said.

The Austin boys finished second in the Big Nine and fourth in the Section 1AA meet.

Austin advances three, two relays to state meet

Austin advances three, two relays to state meet

(From the Austin Post Bulletin)

LAKEVILLE — It was hard to wipe the smile off Austin boys track and field coach Tony Einertson’s face on Saturday. He was that happy.

“Things went as well, or better, than I expected,” he said. “I’m so happy for these guys. It was a terrific day.”

The Packers finished a solid fourth in the Section One, Class AA meet at Lakeville South High School with 94 1/2 points. Farmington won it with 136 points followed by Owatnna (111 1/2) and Lakeville North (101).

Most important, Austin advanced three individuals along with a pair of relays to this week’s Class AA state meet at Hamline University in St. Paul.

Junior Henry Darling finished first in the 400 (51.00), junior Tim Erickson qualified with a second-place finish in the 800 (2:02.26) and junior William Darling was second in the 300 hurdles (40.46).

“We decided to sacrifice some in the individual events in order to load up our relays,” said Einertson.

The Packers “bookended” the relays, winning the first one — 3200 — and the last one — 1600 — of the day. They also finished second in the 800 and third in the 400.

“We finished 1-2-3-1 in the relays, and you can’t do much better than that,” said Einertson.

Members of the 3,200 relay were Christian Folken, Jacob Larson, Kyle Dammen and Erickson.

“Kyle ran a 56-second final 400 on his leg,” said Einertson, “and that’s when we took the lead for good.

“Our 400 relay was absolutely fantastic, too, but then again, so was the 1,600. I can’t say enough about them.”

Einertson said Darling ran a “very smart” race to win the 400.

“He had to go against a strong wind and just took it easy the first half before turning it on,” he said. “Then he flew the last 200 meters.”

William Darling hit a number of hurdles, but stuck it out.

“It wasn’t pretty,” said the Austin coach, “but he kept at it and did a great job.”

The pace of the 800 was slow because of the wind but “Tim adjusted and also ran a smart race.”

Einertson was also named Section One, Class AA Coach of the Year.

“This was our best performance in years,” he said. “Now I can’t wait to see what we can do at state.”

 

TRUE TEAM STATE

The Austin Packer Boys Track Team has done it again!  They are the repeat champions of their section and have the opportunity to compete in the MN True Team Track and Field Championships in Stillwater, MN on Saturday, May 16.  You can click on the link to take you to the schedule.  Jacob will be competing in the first and the last running events! He runs the 4 X 800 m relay and the 4 X 400 m relay!  Here (click this link) are the directions to the meet, if you want to come and cheer!IMG_5324