Toll Gate was back in the boys’ lacrosse playoffs for the 10th consecutive year on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately for the Titans, they didn’t stay long this time.

The fourth-seeded Burrillville/North Smithfield co-op squad avenged a regular-season loss to the fifth-seeded Titans with a 16-7 victory Thursday in a Division III quarterfinal at Burrillville.

It was a sour ending on a strong season for the Titans.

“I give it to my kids,” said Toll Gate head coach Mike Vadney. “They don’t quit. I could tell they were frustrated at the end, but they kept playing. Give Burrillville credit. You can’t win a game when you can’t get the ball out of your own end. Our offense looked sharp today. We weren’t moving in transition, we weren’t getting ground balls. We didn’t have it today.”

The Titans were playing without starting goalie Jackson Burgos, who was ineligible for the game. Backup goalies Dan O’Brien and Alex Mowry held their own, but it was an uphill battle from the start.

The teams scored a flurry of goals in the first quarter, but Burrillville came out ahead 7-4. No goals were scored in the second quarter, but Burrillville scored the first two in the third and never saw the lead dip below four. Then, with the Titans pushing up in the late going, Burrillville out-scored them 6-1 over the final 13 minutes to put the game away.

“We knew what to expect from them,” said Burrillville coach Tim Geremia. “We knew we had to change things up. We switched our defense up, tweaked things and we centered on their key players.”

The first quarter set the stage for a shootout, but Toll Gate couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain the rest of the way, especially in the second quarter. The Titans started the frame with a man-advantage after Burrillville received a three-minute, locked-in penalty for an illegal stick.

The Titans didn’t score. Burrillville stole possession twice and goalie Mark Pasquariello made two saves.

“That was huge,” Geremia said. “We worked man-down in practice, just in case. Lo and behold, we ended up in that situation.”

The Titans missed a few more golden opportunities in the period and went to the break still trailing by three. Burrillville’s Tyler Kearney and Ben Robinson struck quickly in the third quarter to up the lead to five.

Toll Gate took advantage of a penalty late in the third quarter with goals from Sean Vittum and Jack Sullivan, but the Broncos answered seven seconds after Sullivan’s goal. When Sullivan scored again with 17 seconds left, Burrillville scored once again 10 seconds later.

There wasn’t much else the Titans could do. Burrillville scored four goals in the final period to finish it off.

“We just didn’t do what we needed,” Vadney said. “They played a little bit more aggressive defense. When they make the save, normally we get the ride going and get the ball on the ground. We couldn’t scoop the ball today, and that cost us. Burrillville came out and won the ground balls. They were winning more ground balls and were off to the other end. Then we’re stuck on defense.”

Burrillville moves on to face top-seeded Rogers in the semifinals.

Toll Gate ended the year with an 8-5 record, a two-win improvement on last year’s campaign.

“I’m really proud of them,” Vadney said. “They’re a great group of kids and they had a great season.”