Not in many years had the Jordan-Elbridge football team found itself part of a home opener that carried this much importance. At 2-0, with a chance to take control of the Class C West division, J-E was hosting Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central, the pre-season league favorite who was coming off a loss to the same Thousand Islands team J-E beat 8-7 in the Carrier Dome in the Sept. 7 season opener. All was in place for a historic clash of Eagles Friday night – but it would belong to ITC, who relied on timely big plays and a fast, ferocious defense to ground J-E and prevail 14-0. Throughout the early portion of the season, J-E’s defense had proven stout. And it did so again in the early stages here, stopping ITC on downs at its own four-yard line after Lootie Allen’s 44-yard run created the game’s first scoring chance. Yet it remained 0-0 going to the second quarter because J-E, determined to keep it on the ground and play physical, found it difficult to move against ITC’s defense. The deadlock was broken by ITC in the second period through an impressive 86-yard march that ended with a serious amount of good fortune. From J-E’s 13, Allen ran to the five-yard line, only to fumble the ball. Before a J-E player could get it, Allen’s teammate, Josh Holmes, grabbed the ball and dashed into the end zone. But J-E allowed nothing more and, trailing 6-0 at halftime, felt good about its chances, if it could put its own scoring drive together. But it never could. Instead, it was ITC keeping it on the ground during a nine-play, 66-yard march. Allen, who finished the night with 133 yards on 20 carries, did the heavy work again before Holmes, not relying on a fumble this time around, went the last 10 yards for the touchdown. No matter what it tried, J-E was stopped, again and again, and would have to take its first defeat of the season, looking to recover next Friday when it visits Bishop Ludden, where Eagles head coach Tim Hawkins was an assistant before coming to J-E. Ludden, for its part, is having a lot of struggles, as evidence by last Friday’s visit to Canastota, which saw the Gaelic Knights take a 53-7 loss to the Raiders. A close contest broke open in the second quarter, when Canastota rattled off 33 unanswered points to take a 40-0 lead to the break. Ludden did not get on the board until the fourth quarter, long after the Raiders’ starters were out of the game.