LUMBERTON — Running a brand new offensive scheme after not scoring in its first three games and playing as underdogs against Jack Britt, Lumberton football coach Adam Deese entered Friday’s game looking to “close the gap” between the Pirates and the competition.

The Pirates stayed in the game into the fourth quarter — if not for a few big plays they may have had a chance to win — and accomplished that goal of improvement in a 27-7 loss.

“Our guys take a weekly goal and we want to take steps,” Deese said. “Our whole motto is we want to close that gap like we did tonight. Now we’ve got to finish, we’ve got to put up points on the offensive end and try to break some tackles and score. Our holes are there, there’s just one or two guys there to finish. That just comes with movement and guys standing on blocks and being more consistent. But I thought we moved the ball well tonight.”

Lumberton (0-4, 0-2 United-8 Conference) got on the scoreboard for the first time this season on a 60-yard fumble recovery by Tyleik McLaughin with 1:34 remaining in the first half. That play pulled the Pirates to within a 14-7 score at halftime.

“It felt wonderful; I think I hurt my groin a little bit jumping up and down,” Deese said. “But it felt good to see some emotion, some excitement from our sideline. That’s a step forward and we’ve got to keep doing that.”

While the Pirates didn’t score offensively, they moved the ball far more effectively in the first week of a newly-installed “smashmouth” scheme than they had the previous three games. Jacoby Pevia led the attack with 15 carries for 50 yards.

“I thought our offense took a step forward tonight; we gained some yards, got some first downs, controlled the clock,” Deese said. “We missed some reads in our passing concepts where we were eyeing one guy; those are things we can clean up, but I was proud of the way they played and the progress they made this week. It’ll be a big week next week.”

Jack Britt had touchdown runs of 75 and 54 yards from Jemell Vereen and a 39-yard scoring run from Sincere Baines; Deese felt that outside of those three plays his defense played well.

“I told the kids in the huddle, it’s five or six plays that make the difference in the ballgame,” Deese said. “Unfortunately, they had more of those five or six plays. Defense, I thought we played well; take away the big plays and we’ve got an old-fashioned defensive barnburner, which is what you want.”

The Buccaneers scored on their opening drive on a 32-yard pass from Josiah Burbank to Baines. Each side had a fumble on a punt recovery recovered by the opposition, but neither team turned those turnovers into points; Lumberton also didn’t convert on a fumble recovery in the second quarter at the Jack Britt 31-yard line.

Vereen, who ran for 180 yards on 12 carries, scored on a 75-yard run with 3:34 left in the half. After Lumberton turned the ball over on downs on the ensuing possession, McLaughlin’s fumble-recovery touchdown came on the first play of the next Jack Britt drive.

Vereen scored again on his next carry, a 54-yard run to take a 20-7 lead with 9:14 left in the third; the extra-point was no good. Lumberton went for another fourth-and-2 on its next possession; while the play was unsuccessful, that and the previous fourth-down attempt gave a glimpse into Deese’s mindset.

“We want to create that mindset that we’re going to move the ball,” Deese said. “We want to make sure that we’re aggressive; we want our guys to be aggressive, and I don’t want them to be passive, and that’s the mindset we want to get going.”

Jack Britt also went for it on fourth down on its next two possessions, deep into Lumberton territory, and was stopped by the Pirates defense. The Pirates punted on each ensuing drive, before Jack Britt scored its final touchdown with a minute remaining on the 39-yard run by Baines, who ran for 116 yards on 16 carries.

Lumberton plays at South View next week.

“We’ve still got to get better offensively, but I thought we did better, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” Deese said. “But I said not bad for one week of installment for what we’re doing, and we’re going to add some things to what we’ve got going on, but I like where we’re headed.”