WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – The Watertown Rapids were at home Friday night and the Watertown Red & Black are on the road Saturday. We check in with both teams.
PGCBL action from Toyota Field saw the Rapids hosting Boonville.
At the bottom of the 1st, the Rapids strike as Owen Parliment doubles down the 3rd base line and Nick Locurto scores: 1-0.
Then it was Quinten Perilli hit by the pitch with the bases loaded and David McCann comes in to make it 2-0.
Gaetan Grandelli follows with the groundout to 2nd and Parliment crosses: 3-0 Rapids.
Later in the frame, Pranav Sundar drops a base hit into left field, both Nick Mazzotta and Perilli score to make it 5-0.
But Boonville comes back to beat Watertown 11-5.
The Watertown Red and Black hit the road Saturday night for a rematch with the Syracuse Strong in Gridiron Developmental Football League action.
The Red and Black are looking to avenge their only loss of the season, a 31-9 setback to the Strong in week 2 of the league season at George Ashcraft Field.
”The wheels kind of fell off with under 10 minutes left in the game. With 10 minutes left in the game, the score was 10-9. It was anybody’s game still and we had 2 scores taken off the board before that, so we could have been up by 10. We gotta play 60 minutes of football, which I think we’re capable of doing. As long as we go down and do that we’re gonna be fine,” said Red and Black Coach George Ashcraft.
In their first meeting, the Red and Black were plagued by turnovers and has trouble establishing any type of running game.
Red and Black Offensive Coordinator Jerry Levine says that has to change in this contest in order for Watertown to have a different outcome this time around.
”Well, we’re gonna have to keep their defense a little bit honest. We can’t just let them get in situations where they’re pass rushing on every play. They’re a very good defensive line, so we’re gonna have to do something. We’ve gotta be able to at least try and run the ball a little bit and use some time on the clock, give the defense blows here and there. Just try to do a better job offensively. We’ve gotta be able to pass the ball and continue what we’ve done the least couple of weeks,” said Levine.
What the offense has done over the past two games is score 112 points, including a 50-0 win over Charlotte and a 62-22 win over the New York Falcons of Buffalo.
While Levine feels the offense has finally got on track after a rough start to the season, he knows the defending national champion Syracuse Strong are on another level.
”Yeah, we’ve had a good couple of weeks and we’re happy with our progress but we haven’t played the Syracuse Strong. This is a big time opponent we’re going against this week. Very experienced team. We’re gonna have to continue to throw the ball short and make our athletes make some plays. Our offensive line is gonna be a little patchwork again, so they’re gonna have to step up and give Jason some time. If we get time, we’re good,” said Levine.
The Red and Black will be in search of their 3rd straight league win and Ashcraft feels his team is playing their best football of the season with Saturday’s contest marking the halfway point of the league season.
”You can’t take anything away from the offense doing what they’re suppose to be doing and putting points on the board. Makes the defense play better. Last week, we had a couple of defensive scores. The team is gelling,” said Ashcraft
The Red and Black will be on the road facing the Syarcuse Strong with kickoff set for 7 p.m. at Henninger High School.
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