A sloppy first quarter gave way to scrappy success as the Bainbridge High varsity boys lacrosse team edged their way to a 10-8 win against the visitors from Issaquah.

In conference or not, the win was a big deal for Bainbridge, BHS assistant coach and team spokesman Jacob Hayashi said.

“They’re just a good team,” he said of the Eagles.

“They’ve always given us trouble. For years and years and years it’s been a big game for us, and to come out on top is really nice.”

The visitors led 2-1 at the close of the first quarter Friday, but Bainbridge came back in a big way in the second, outscoring the Eagles 5-2, thus leading 6-4 at the half.

Both teams put up two in the third and fourth, allowing Bainbridge to keep their slight edge despite a minor rally by the Eagles in the final moments of the fourth.

Inside those final fateful moments, Issaquah had two close range shots to tie. The first was saved and, after recovering the rebound, Issaquah fired off the second shot wide. Bainbridge answered back with one final goal of their own, cementing the victory.

Basically, it was a night of sharp ups and downs.

BHS led and then trailed, then led again, before staring down the barrel of yet another Issy comeback late in the last quarter in a performance that was tenacious — if a little sloppy, Hayashi said.

“We had a game plan we weren’t really executing in the beginning,” he said. “And slowly, throughout the game, they started executing what we were trying to do and it kind of worked out eventually.”

The Spartan squad on the field Friday is a “completely different team from the beginning of the year,” Hayashi said.

“Things are starting to click a lot more,” he explained. “Things are coming together. Passes are getting crisper.”

With only five games left in the regular season, the assistant coach said the goal going forward was to maintain the squad’s gains and peak on schedule.

“We stacked the beginning of the season full so we got all that experience,” he said. “I think it really paid off. Now they’re kind of getting into playoff mode and things are working smoother.

“We were so young we wanted to front-load the season so we could get all the nerves out, figure out what we had right away,” Hayashi said. “We didn’t know exactly what we had with all the freshmen coming in.”

The 2017 BHS roster is a bit baby-faced, boasting just five seniors — and seven freshmen. In this instance, though, it seems the new kids on the block have had a bunch of hits: the nonleague win Friday advanced their overall season record to 9-6 (5-1 in conference).

The Bainbridge team next traveled to face off against O’Dea on Tuesday, and will host Eastside Catholic at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 28.