Semipro football: Red and Black dealt costly home loss to Upstate in regular-season finale

Jul. 30—WATERTOWN — Enduring a tough home loss to the Upstate Predators wasn't exactly what the Red and Black envisioned for their regular-season finale.

Yet a slow start on offense and turnovers proved costly to the Red and Black in a 22-19 setback to the Predators on Saturday night in a Gridiron Developmental Football League game on George Ashcraft Field at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.

Watertown (5-3), which never led in the game, turned the ball over four times — all on interceptions by quarterback Shawn Johnson.

"It's not that it was tough, it was more of a mental thing throughout the whole team," said Johnson, who threw two picks in each half as well as passing for a touchdown. "We had mental mistakes here and there for us and we didn't take advantage of opportunities."

The loss was also a costly one as the Red and Black squandered an opportunity to host another game to open the playoffs, which begin in two weeks.

"This game was winnable, very winnable," Watertown coach George Ashcraft said. "But we did it to ourselves, when you turn the ball over four times, you're probably not going to win anything."

Quarterback Billy Joiner threw three touchdown passes — including a pair to Jarrett Osterhout in the first half — to spark Upstate to the road triumph.

"This was a big one for us," Joiner said. "Little bit of everything, we played hard with grit and fight through a lot of football. We had to battle through the refs at times ... but we got through that. We traveled 2 1/2 hours to get here and we got the job done, we're happy for that."

In turn, the Red and Black struggled offensively in the opening half as along with the two turnovers, they generated only 64 yards from scrimmage.

"I wouldn't say it was tough, it's just we beat ourselves with communication with each other offense and defensive wise," Watertown wide receiver Chris Furr said. "We hurt ourselves today. We just got on ourselves a little too much and it turned into negative energy and we kind of screwed ourselves with that."

"We just made some bad decisions tonight that we haven't made in a while," Red and Black offensive coach Jerry Levine said, "We just weren't sharp, we were flat. We came off that Troy win riding high and we came out tonight with a flat effort."

With the Predators leading 14-3 at halftime, Joiner connected with Eddie Jackson on a 19-yard scoring strike, with Jackson making the catch while draped by a pair of defenders. After Sammy Diaz hauled in the conversion pass and Upstate led 22-3.

Watertown would mount a comeback bid as Cory Smith finished off a 43-yard-drive in 11 plays with a one-yard scoring plunge and Johnson connected with Keegan Queior on the conversion pass to draw within 22-11 with 7:43 remaining in the third quarter.

But Johnson would throw interceptions on the Red and Black's next two possessions, with one each from Diaz and Mykel Wilder, with the second coming with 9:13 remaining in the game.

Still, Watertown would persevere as Smith intercepted a pass in the end zone with 4:52 left and 10 plays later, Semaj James hauled in a 20-yard pass from Johnson with 1:56 left to draw within 22-17 after the conversion attempt failed.

After recovering the ball on the ensuing onside kick, the Predators would later recover a fumble deep in their own territory.

"I think tonight, this game was very winnable," Ashcraft said. "I mean we could of and should of but there were a lot of things that happened, like I said. At the end of the game, I felt that we had the ball, he was on the ground when he got hit and to have that ball cough out and turn it back over. That was our ball, plain and simple, it just was."

Then while under pressure, Joiner was forced to take a safety with 1:11 left as he ran the ball into his own end zone as Watertown pulled within 22-19.

Following a free kick by Upstate, the Red and Black drove to the Predators' 28-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs after an official measurement came up short by inches on fourth down.

"We tried to bring it back and we had a little momentum left and we almost had it, but we were just short by half a yard," Furr said.

"Our defense picked it up and in the second half we played better, but it was too late," Levine said. "We made a nice push at the end and had a bad break on that fumble recovery right at the end, we would have had the ball there with a chance to go ahead from 15 yards out. It didn't happen, so we've got to regroup and go from there."

Johnson, who threw three touchdown passes in Watertown's home win against Troy last week, completed 20 of 42 passes for 194 yards and a score against Upstate.

"It's a challenge for us, we won two or three in a row and then we only lost by three points tonight," Johnson said. "So we can't beat up ourselves about this, but we're going to play them again in two weeks at their house."

Upstate scored on the game's opening possession, driving 92 yards in 10 plays and capped by Joiner's 60-yard pass to a wide-open Osterhout to lead 6-0.

After Watertown answered with Eric Beyler's 32 yard-field goal in the second quarter to pull within 6-3, Joiner connected with Osterhout on a five-yard scoring toss on Upstate's next possession and led 14-3 after Diaz's conversion catch with 7:43 left in the half.

Furr and James paced the Red and Black's receiving effort with 67 and 66 yards on six and five catches, respectively.

But Watertown again struggled to run the ball as Johnson paced the team in rushing with 25 yards on eight carries, while Jamal Finkley totaled 15 yards on six touches.

"We've got to become more consistent, we've got to be able to run the ball, we need to try to run the ball more," Levine said. And that's on me, we need to run the ball more."

Defensively for the Red and Black, Jeremy Machia and Smith totaled 15 and 13 tackles, respectively, and Joshua Lear recorded a pair of sacks.

With the loss, the Red and Black will open the playoffs on the road, likely with a rematch at Upstate in Rochester when the postseason begins on Aug. 12.

"It happens, it's life," Johnson said, "You don't win them all and you don't lose them all, but the fact that we get the chance to play them again, we'll be alright and get them next time."

Upstate is a familiar team to Johnson, who played against the Predators last season when he played for the Syracuse Strong.

"They're a great team, a great team," Johnson said. "They're a great organization that's run well and coached well with a great quarterback. I lost to them last season and I wish I could have done more this time."

"We're progressing and we still haven't played our best football," Joiner said. "I think besides the second half, this was the cleanest football we've played so far. And coming into next week, we plan on getting even better and better going into the playoffs.

"We've got Watertown in the first week of the playoffs and they're coming on down to Rochester, it will be a good battle."

Watertown, which finished in second place in the Extreme Conference East Division, now has a one-week bye before the playoffs.

The Red and Black are in their first season in the GDFL, after winning the Empire Football League championship the past two years.

"It's just like our first game against Syracuse," said Queior, referencing a 31-9 home loss to the Strong on June 3. "We have to learn from this one and take it to heart. We have to be better."