RALEIGH - Athens Drive learned the hard way Friday night about how difficult it is to overcome turnovers and a big early deficit. After falling behind Lumberton 19-0 early in the second quarter, Athens rallied to created fourth quarter drama, but ultimately came up short at home.

The 22-14 non-conference loss drops the Jaguars’ record to 2-3 overall.

The visiting Pirates, who moved to 5-0, appeared to be on their way to a blowout in the early going. They scored first six minutes into the game by taking advantage of a blocked punt recovered at the Athens 15-yard line in the opening minutes.

Lumberton stretched its lead to 13-0 on a second scoring drive nearly identical to its first. After another blocked punt set them up in the Jaguars’ red zone, this time at the 20, the Pirates wasted no time finding pay dirt and led by two scores with a minute left in the first quarter.

“Special teams is something we work on every week,” Athens coach Jeff Smouse said. “But a lot of our kids, they don’t really care about it, and that makes it disappointing for the coaching staff. I wasn’t happy at all in the first half, with anything. We just let them hit us in the mouth. We told them at halftime, ‘we have to make plays.’”

Lumberton scored its third and final touchdown of the night minutes later, again on a drive that started in Jaguar territory. Taking over near midfield after an interception by Athens quarterback Jason West, the Pirates took to the air to go up 19-0 on a touchdown bomb from Montrae Strothers to Dorian Davis.

But Athens responded, starting with a 15-yard touchdown pass over the middle from quarterback Jason West to wide receiver A.J. Stewart that made it 19-7 with 6:56 to play in the second quarter.

The defenses for both teams took over after halftime, with the only points of the third quarter coming on Lumberton’s field goal from 28 yards out halfway through the third.

The Jaguars took over early in the fourth quarter at midfield after a short punt by the Pirates and moved into the red zone on a 45-yard completion from West to Stewart, who shed several tacklers on his way down to the sideline to put his team on Lumberton’s doorstep. Athens made it 22-14 when running back Dominique Lynch punched it in from one yard out with 10:13 remaining.

Lumberton salted the game away on the ground, running 7:12 off the clock to give it back to the Jags with three minutes remaining. But Athens could only manage one first down before tight end Mike Estes was dropped in the open field just shy of the chains on a crucial fourth-and-two.

After a quick punt by Lumberton, the Jags had one last chance to force overtime when they took over possession at their own 32. Athens successfully executed a hook and lateral that Stewart took down the sideline to the Lumberton 40, but ran out of time before advancing any further.