Semipro football: Williams, Red and Black pour on points for wild rout of Falcons

Jun. 19—WATERTOWN — Jason Williams continues to flourish and exude confidence in his second season with the Watertown Red and Black.

Williams, who helped lead the team to a championship last year, delivered a career night as he had a hand in six touchdowns, including throwing for five scores, as the Red and Black rolled to a 66-22 pounding of the New York Falcons in a Gridiron Developmental Football League game Saturday on George Ashcraft Field at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.

Williams threw for a career-high and team-record 389 yards, including a career-best in touchdown passes, as well as rushing for another to propel Watertown, which improved to 3-1.

"We came out strong, the offense was clicking, we were able to put points on the board," said Williams, who completed 20 of 45 passes on the night. "Everybody executed perfectly and we got the win."

"Jason was awesome," receiver Keegan Queior said. "That's the best he's played all season and we knew he could do it, we've just been waiting for him to break out."

He connected with four different receivers for scores, including tossing a pair of touchdowns to Queior, who totaled 99 yards on six catches. Fellow veteran wideout Chris Furr caught three passes for 151 yards, including a scoring reception.

Williams also achieved a team record for passing attempts and surpassed the previous mark for passing yards in a game, both of which were set by Ron Gabriel in 1986.

"Jason had a great night he lit it up," Watertown coach George Ashcraft said. "He had almost 400 yards and he didn't play half the game, so that's great to see."

Dequace Jackson and Zachary Todd also hauled in scoring catches from Williams on the night.

"I like to get the ball around to our receivers and keep the defense guessing," Williams said. "You don't want to keep targeting the same guy, everybody got to play, so that's great."

Watertown also recorded another stout effort on defense as a week after routing the Charlotte Colonials, 50-0, it received defensive touchdowns from Joshua Lear and Eric Washington, who each returned an interception for a score in the fourth quarter.

"It was great all around, everybody got in the game, which is what we want," Watertown defensive back Jeremy Machia said. "And everybody that was in the game did their part, everybody showed that they can play. It was just a great win overall, everybody working together."

But Williams led the way for most of the night as he opened the game with a 68-yard strike to Furr and two plays later, Jackson scored on a five-yard scoring pass.

Williams capped his team's next possession with a two-yard touchdown run, and after New York capitalized with a touchdown as Williams fumbled the ball in the end zone, he bounced right back and found Todd on a 5-yard scoring toss to build a 22-6 lead through the opening quarter.

"Jason had a great game, the receivers had a great game," Watertown offensive coach Jerry Levine said. "They just played so many guys up in the box to stop the run, so we just started to throw and they never adjusted. Once we got in a rhythm, we kept throwing and we had a good night."

Williams connected with Queior on a 36-yard TD pass and Furr later hauled in a 49-yard strike for a score with one second remaining in the first half as Watertown built a 34-14 advantage.

"Him being able to climb past that cornerback and snatch the ball over his head was a great catch," Williams said of Furr. "He made a great play."

The Red and Black opened the second half with a defensive score as Machia sacked Falcons quarterback Justin Goldsmith in the end zone for a safety.

Offensively, Williams continued to spread the ball around as he made completions to eight different players.

Jackson, who played his last game with the team as he is being reassigned by the Army, totaled 72 yards on five catches and first-year player Todd tallied 61 yards on four catches.

"All of our receivers are an athletic group, so speedy and being able to make plays when there's time to make plays," said Williams, who also threw for three touchdowns in last week's win. "It works out for us and we have a good group of guys."

Williams was spelled at times in the second half by quarterback Connor Crump, who hooked up with Semaj James on a 22-yard scoring pass in the third quarter.

"It was a good effort, a good win as a team, to be honest," Queior said. "After the way we won last week, it feels good to keep putting points on the board, man, and keep establishing chemistry as a team."

Later after the Falcons generated back-to-back scores on safety on a sack in the end zone and a passing touchdown of their own, Williams hooked up with Queior again — this time on an 11-yard strike for a 50-22 advantage to open the fourth quarter.

"I feel like with our offense, if we can spread the ball around, we're a dangerous team and not one-dimensional," Queior said.

Lear then returned an interception 10 yards for a score and Washington followed with his pick, scampering 60 yards to complete the scoring.

Johnathan Williams and Vanquez Adams Jr. each recorded an interception of their own for Watertown. Also, Justin Kuhn was in on 10 tackles and registered a pair of sacks, and Brandon Ray recovered a fumble.

Jamal Finkley paced Watertown's ground game as he ran for 15 yards on seven carries.

The Red and Black, which is now at the halfway mark of its regular season in its first season in the league, will clash with division-leading Syracuse in a rematch of a week two game won by the Strong, 31-9, on June 3 in Watertown.

Watertown will travel to play at Syracuse at 7 p.m. next Saturday.

"A lot of points on the board, but we've got a lot of work to do if we don't want to be embarrassed next week," Ashcraft said. "There are a lot of turning parts that aren't in our favor right now with our linemen, especially our offensive line. We've got some people playing out of position and life goes on. We've got to practice, we've got to have two good practices this week because there's a lot of things that we're going to have to work on. It's going to be scary if we don't."

The Red and Black won't play at home until it finishes the regular-season with back-to-back games at the Fairgrounds, against the Troy Fighting Irish on July 22 and against the Upstate Predators on July 29.

"It feels good to get some wins under our belt," Queior said. "Obviously the Syracuse game hurt us a little bit, but we're going to try and get back at them next week. We've got to show up to practice and we've got to work."