AIKEN --- This wasn't how Aiken's seniors were supposed to bow out.

Not on the soggy turf of their home field, Hagood Stadium.

And not in the first round of the Class AAAA Division II playoffs.

But the scoreboard showed Richland Northeast 24, Aiken 7, and the disappointment showed in the faces of Aiken's senior class.

"I really don't know what happened," Aiken's Hudson Smith said. "In the first half we came out thinking we had this game won. It didn't show."

The Hornets fell behind almost immediately, as they surrendered a touchdown on the game's third play from scrimmage.

Aiken (9-3) managed to tie it, but two more scores by the Cavaliers (8-4) in the first quarter put the game in their control.

It was the third consecutive year Aiken bowed out of the playoffs in the first round. The Hornets lost to South Pointe (48-14) in 2007 and Westside (28-21) in 2006. Aiken was eliminated in the second round in 2005.

"We didn't block and tackle," Aiken coach Carey Johnson said. "(Gee Gee Greene) made us look pretty bad at times. We didn't do a good job of tackling him."

The Richland Northeast running back rushed for 166 yards and one touchdown. In the first meeting between the teams this season, a 24-14 win by the Cavaliers, Greene rushed for 144 yards.

Aiken found itself in a 7-0 hole 37 seconds into the game. The Cavaliers moved 80 yards in just three plays, with most of the damage coming on the game's initial play from scrimmage. Kersean Wilson threw a 61-yard pass to Kenny Upshaw, and two plays later Wilson went in untouched from the 10-yard line.

Aiken responded with an 11-play march that consumed nearly six minutes and ended with Cortez Abney finding the end zone from 6 yards out.

But that would be the lone highlight for the Hornets.

Richland Northeast looked to be stopped, but on fourth-and-10 from the Aiken 22, Wilson found Derek Frost in the back of the end zone for another touchdown.

Then, after Aiken's Kessler Scott threw an interception, the Cavaliers found the end zone in a hurry again.

Greene scooted into the end zone on a 28-yard run that put the visitors up 21-7 after the first quarter.

A driving rain made conditions sloppy in the second quarter, and the only score came on a 34-yard field goal by Richland Northeast's Daniel Passament as time expired.

The Hornets made adjustments in the second half, and they kept the Cavaliers out of the end zone.

But Aiken's offense sputtered, and the Hornets' chances came to an end when they came up short on a fourth-and-long play inside the Richland Northeast 10.

"In our three losses we had, we just had some plays that didn't go our way," said Smith, who has been offered a scholarship to Newberry and is looking at a number of in-state schools. "That's how football goes. It's hard to lose, especially being our senior year."

Reach John Boyette at (706) 823-3337 or john.boyette@augustachronicle.com.