Aug. 22—GLENS FALLS — Credit the Watertown Red and Black with a hard-fought road triumph Saturday night.
Coming off its first loss of the season, the Red and Black persevered by blanking the Glens Falls Greenjackets, 9-0, in an Empire Football League game at East Field.
Wide receiver Keegan Queior hauled in a 26-yard scoring touchdown in the second quarter and Eric Beyler kicked a 37-yard field goal in the fourth quarter for Watertown, which improves to 2-1 on the season and moved into a first-place tie with Glens Falls, which suffered its first loss of the season.
“It was a great win defensively,” said Watertown Red and Black offensive coordinator Jerry Levine. “Offensively, we’re still challenged a bit, but we’ll take the win.”
The Red and Black recorded a defensive gem against a Glens Falls offense that had started the season strong, particularly in the passing game, in two wins earlier this season. Against Watertown, the Greenjackets (2-1) were limited to 60 yards passing.
“On defense, we showed a lot of energy, guys were flying to the ball,” Levine said.
With the game scoreless for most of the first half, the Red and Black broke through on Queior’s touchdown catch on a pass from quarterback Kalon Jeter with 45 seconds remaining in the second quarter for a 6-0 advantage after the extra-point attempt was unsuccessful.
“It was a nice win for us, that was a real nice touchdown pass,” Levine said. “We definitely needed the win after last week.”
Watertown added three points on Beyler’s field goal with 7:42 remaining in regulation to help put the game away.
The field goal was set up by an interception by defensive back Detrevion Cherry, who returned the ball 40 yards.
Dawayne Balcom also intercepted a pass for the Red and Black, who also recovered a fumble.
Linebacker Connor Brown was in on 14 tackles for Watertown and teammate Jeremy Machia recorded three sacks and was also in on nine tackles.
Offensively, Jeter completed seven of 23 passes for 85 yards and also rushed for 48 yards on eight carries to pace the Red and Black on the ground.
Queior totaled 48 yards on three receptions and Dequace Jackson finished with 29 yards on three catches.
“Offensively, we’re still not even close to where we need to be,” said Levine, who added the Red and Black fumbled the ball three times. “We need to get better and it has to start now, no excuses.”
The Red and Black bounced back after suffering its first loss of the season in a 28-14 setback at Syracuse on Aug. 14.
“It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win,” Levine said. “But we know we can play better.
This was the second of three consecutive road games for the Red and Black. Watertown will play at Plattsburgh at 7 p.m. next Saturday before the league has a bye week over Labor Day weekend.
The Red and Black return to host Glens Falls on Sept. 11 and will host Syracuse on Sept. 18, both 7 p.m. starts at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds, to finish off the regular season.