DURHAM - Riverside outscored Athens Drive over the final three quarters of their first-round NCHSAA boys lacrosse game Friday night on Tommy Blalock Field at Linny Wrenn Stadium. But Athens Drive scored the first nine goals of the game, which was more than enough cushion to hold on for a comfortable 14-9 win.

Athens Drive’s formula for its early domination was simple: it won the first five face-offs which led to the game’s first five goals before Riverside took its first shot. The Jaguars went up 7-0 in the first quarter and led 10-3 at halftime.

“I don’t think we won many face-offs at the beginning. We had some trouble with their faceoff guy,” Riverside coach Glenn Estacio said. “(The Jaguars) were real patient and waited for whatever they were given, and they took advantage. For that quarter, the wheels came off for us.”

It was the first playoff victory for Athens Drive’s program, which last made the playoffs in 2005.

The Jaguars’ offense was hard for the Pirates to defend against because every player proved to be a scoring threat.

Athens Drive’s top goal scorer was Daniel Hughey with three. Griffin Carroll, Ben Austin and Jake Hargrove each had two goals apiece while Ryan Richardson, Cam Davis, Dylan Haupt, Scott Baird and Scott Frider each scored one.

“If one person is scoring, we’re really not running our offense,” Jaguars coach Paul Brown said. “We wanted to possess the ball because we knew if they had it, we were in trouble. We possessed the ball, kept it moving around and when that offense runs it opens up opportunities for anyone to score.”

Riverside made a late charge, cutting the deficit to 10-5 with four minutes left in the third quarter on goals by Leslie Wickham and Carson Sterling.

Sterling finished with a game-high four goals, while teammate Mitchell Fagert added three and Peter Ratcliffe had one.

But the Jags scored twice in the final 3:51 of the period, putting the game will out of reach.

Athens Drive, the No. 3 seed out of Conference 2, played Tuesday in the second round at Conference 5 champ East Chapel Hill.

Riverside won the Conference 4 championship, but not until a tiebreaker game with conference-rival Jordan on Monday. The Pirates lost senior starters Kevin O’Foghluhda and Kyle Anderson with concussions in the 6-5 win, and neither had recovered in time for the playoffs.