WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – The Watertown Red and Balck announced a big change to their schedule that adds another win to their record without taking the field.

Coach George Ashcraft learned Wednesday morning that Saturday night’s game with the Lake Erie Power Pines has been cancelled due to the Power Pines not being able to get enough players together to make the trip to Watertown.

The Red and Black receive a forfeit and improve to 5-2 on the season, which sets up a big battle next Saturday night at George Ashcraft Field as the Red and Black close out their Northeastern Football Alliance regular season against the Buffalo Stampede.

“You know that next week’s game was gonna be bigger than this week because of the competition that you were gonna be playing. This week would have given us an opportunity to get some of the younger guys an opportunity to get in, maybe play some more. It will all work out in the end. The guys are resilient; they’ve been all year. Everybody seems to be getting along very well, and that’s the important part of this. We’re in the wind-down part of the season, and 5-2 going into the last game of the regular season, and hopefully 6-2 after next week. Ride it through the playoffs and win a Division 2 championship,” said George Ashcraft.

Staying on the gridiron, a 7 on 7 passing camp has been taking place every Wednesday afternoon the past few weeks at South Jeff

The host Spartans, along with General Brown, Indian River, and Watertown taking part for 2 hours, giving teams a jump on their passing games before the start of fall practice begins in a little less than a month.

The coaches say camps like this are a valuable thing to have and allow them to formulate not only their passing attacks but passing defenses as well.

“I think it really gives us a leg up. Playing against South Jeff, Watertown, and Indian River gives us some different opponents than we see during the regular season, and I think it just really gets the kids motivated and starts getting their minds set on football,” said Doug Black.

“This is very important for South Jeff. We throw the ball so this is some of the best competition around with Indian River, General Brown and Watertown. We see a lot of athleticism, discipline, and good winning programs,” said Aaron Rivers.

“Yeah, it’s just a great opportunity for the kids to get together. Also, a chance for us to see some of the other teams and get them excited about what’s coming,” said Cory Marsell.

“Well, it’s a great opportunity to come out and kind of mesh as a team. We’re implementing some new things, so it’s a great opportunity to do that as well and kind of see where we’re at heading into the season,” said Nick Lavin.

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