They had reason to point to 2014 as the year where Jordan-Elbridge’s football fortunes turned around and something big would happen.
With a senior-heavy lineup and a stifling defense, the Eagles closed a 6-1 regular season by turning back Canastota 14-8 on Friday night and giving itself all kinds of momentum heading into next week’s Section III Class C playoffs.
And as it turned out, it also gave J-E a home game. The no. 4 seed Eagles will face no. 5 seed Thousand Islands next Friday at 6:30 in the Class C opening round.
This playoff game is a rematch of the Sept. 7 season opener in the Kickoff Classic at the Carrier Dome, where J-E, using a third-quarter safety and late touchdown drive, edged Thousand Islands 8-7. The winner will get to next weekend’s semifinals – where Canastota could be waiting if it stuns unbeaten top seed Herkimer.
Both J-E and Canastota started the night with 3-1 league marks, knowing they were unable to catch first place since they had both lost to first-place Syracuse Institute of Technology Central.
And though both were assured of going to the post-season regardless of their head-to-head result, the Eagles and Raiders knew a win would mean a better seed and, perhaps, a more favorable first-round match-up.
It was not surprising, given the way both teams excelled on the defensive side of the ball, that the first quarter flew by without a point for either side. Late in the period, though, Austin Barrigar and the Eagles started putting together a sustained drive.
That march reached Canastota’s six-yard line early in the second period, and from there Barrigar kept it and sneaked into the end zone. A missed conversion meant that J-E had to settle for a 6-0 lead.
When Canastota’s Cameron Bellino returned the ensuing kickoff to the Eagles’ 36, the Raiders had its first big chance of the night, and drove to the three-yard line, only to see J-E make a big fourth-down stop, which kept it 6-0 going into halftime.
The momentum from that stand near its goal line carried over into the third quarter. J-E, on its first possession, marched the length of the field, relying on its ground game until it reached the Raiders’ one and Justin Quinn scored.
This time, the Eagles converted the two-point play, and it was 14-0. Given the stingy nature of J-E’s defense, that looked more than enough, but the Raiders were not done yet.
Early in the fourth quarter, Canastota found some gaps and marched to J-E’s 11-yard line, from where Bellino scored and the Raiders added the two-point conversion, cutting the margin to six.
Unable to put the game away, J-E gave the ball to Canastota for two more possessions, but each time the Eagles’ defense would make the big stop, and with a fumble recovery in the final minutes, it locked up victory.
Elsewhere in Class C West play, Bishop Ludden improved its mark to 2-5, making a second-half comeback to record a 42-33 victory over the Tully Black Knights.
The Gaelic Knights led, 14-7, after one period, only to have Tully rally and go up 20-14 by halftime. Not fazed by this, Ludden used a big third quarter to move back in front, 29-26, and then added two more touchdowns in the final period to thwart the Black Knights’ comeback attempt.