At least in September, the Bishop Ludden football team still had control of the Class C West division. But on the first night of October, all of that changed, as the Gaelic Knights dropped a first-place showdown to Cato-Meridian 26-12, the host Blue Devils improving its mark to 5-0 and taking sole possession of the league lead. Ludden came to Cato riding a three-game win streak, but it had a difficult time handling the Blue Devils’ passing game, anchored by quarterback Nick LaLone. LaLone’s five-yard touchdown pass to Utah Perham was the only points of the first quarter. In the second period, LaLone went deep and found Perham again, the TD covering 60 yards, and LaLone himself ran six yards for another score. Only when trailing 19-0 did Ludden finally get moving on the offensive side. Yet even with Matt Rogers and Chris Davis connecting on a 42-yard scoring play, the Gaelic Knights trailed by two scores going into the break. Ludden made up half that deficit in the third quarter when Rogers, from near midfield, threw long and found Myles Montgomery on a 48-yard scoring strike. But Perham, who had six catches for 103 yards, went to the ground to score on a 32-yard run later in that period, and Cato blanked Ludden the rest of the way. LaLone had 113 yards on the ground and 131 yards through the air. By contrast, Jordan-Elbridge rose up to earn its second victory of the season Saturday afternoon, toppling the combined LaFayette/Fabius-Pompey squad 29-13. What made the Eagles’ effort more impressive was that it spotted the Lancers a 7-0 advantage in the first quarter, then blanked them in the game’s middle stages. Liam Corfield’s 30-yard field goal put J-E on the board, and the defense struck when Nick Berwind returned a LaFayette fumble 29 yards for a touchdown, helping the Eagles lead 9-7 at the break. J-E then spent much of the third quarter churning up yards on the ground. Berwind found the end zone a second time on a 25-yard run, this after Nick Killeen found a hole and went 44 yards for another long TD. Berwind’s third TD of the afternoon came from four yards out in the fourth quarter and included Dan Galagher finding Logan Smart on a two-point conversion. The Eagles won despite getting just 205 yards of total offense. Killeen finished with 58 yards on the ground, one more yard than Berwind. Zack Stevenson had an outstanding game on the defensive side, registering 13 tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception. Smart earned 10 tackles, while Tom Albring had nine tackles. Sean Cooper picked up seven tackles as Berwind (who also recovered a fumble), Leland Holmes and Frank Bratkowiak picked up six tackles apiece. J-E will face Beaver River this weekend at Fulton’s new turf field, while Ludden makes its own trip to LaFayette on Saturday, knowing that wins over the Lancers and Tully on Oct. 15 in Geddes will likely mean a playoff berth.