By CHRIS FITZ GERALD
cfitzgerald@wdt.net
WATERTOWN — The Watertown Red and Black opened the Empire Football League championship in emphatic fashion and never looked back.
Kalon Jeter hauled in a 57-yard touchdown pass from Jason Williams on the game’s very first play from scrimmage to spark Watertown to a 37-8 triumph over the Glens Falls Greenjackets on Saturday night at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.
“It was really big because we had to start off and we had to start off early,” Jeter said. “We were able to get out in front quick and I think that set the zone for the rest of the game.”
Spurred on by the big play, the Red and Black went on to make other big plays through the course of the night on both sides of the ball to claim the league title.
“We knew this was coming,” Watertown linebacker Connor Brown said. “From the beginning of the season after that Syracuse loss, we just progressed and progressed and progressed and that’s what championship teams do. ... Because we all had one goal and that was to win this championship the right way and that’s exactly what happened tonight.”
This marks the third league championship for the Red and Black (7-1), the oldest semipro football team in the country, and its first since 2009.
“It’s an amazing feeling, knowing that we did what we did to get here and we still did what we did to win it,” Watertown veteran wide receiver Chris Furr said. “It’s an amazing feeling.”
After Red and Black prevailed in a penalty-filled game for both teams which totaled nearly three-and-a-half hours, Watertown players stormed the team’s dog pound area in the Fairgrounds’ east end zone to celebrate with their fans.
