SCARBOROUGH — Hard work is its own reward. Unless the effort happens to pay off in a victory.

For Kennebunk, the satisfaction of a game played full tilt will have to suffice, after it sustained an 8-3 setback at the hands of defending state champions Scarborough, in an SMAA boys lacrosse clash, Wednesday.

The Rams (5-5) fell victim to a five-goal second-quarter run by Scarborough, and despite all the urgency they could muster, were unable to recover on an unseasonably raw night.

“It was a rough game,” said Kennebunk junior attack Nick Gross. “We played hard, but we couldn’t bring it through this time.”

Scarborough captured last year’s Class-A title — it’s second in three years — after ousting an upstart Rams club in a hard-fought Western Conference final.

Wednesday’s rematch started out in tooth-and-nail fashion too, thanks in large part to the work of Cullen Finn in the Kennebunk net.

He held the Red Storm (8-2) to one goal in the opening period.

Finn’s biggest save of the stanza came while the game was still scoreless, when he dipped low to block a point-blank drive from Jake Barrett.

Several other Scarborough scoring chances missed the mark, either sailing wide of the cage, or over it.

Then, with 8:29 gone, Scarborough’s Matt Mayo curled aroun d the right side of the net and deposited the opening goal of the game.

Kennebunk answered that with just :42 gone in the second period, when sophomore attack Kevin Airoldi took a feed from Henry Gould, head faked a Scarborough defender, then flipped his shot into the upper left corner.

However, the Rams’ respite was a brief one.

Scarborough sniper Brendan Ham fired in three straight goals in a span of 2:21, as the Rams ripped open a 4-1 lead.

“The second quarter was probably the downfall,” said Kennebunk coach Charlie Burch.

Ball possession was a particular problem for the Rams. They lost all eight faceoffs taken in that quarter.

However, they managed to stop the bleeding late in the half when Sam Wentworth bounced a shot into the left side of the net, cutting the margin to 6-2.

“I thought we turned the momentum around toward the end of the quarter,” said Burch. “And then came out strong (in the third) and played as best as we could.”

Kennebunk allowed just two goals in the second half, then finished up with a goal by Gross that was set up by an electrifying down field run by Finn.

Finn came within striking range of the goal, but at the last moment, threw a behind the back pass for Sam Joseph that continued on to Gross on the left wing.

“This is going to carry over,” said Burch, whose team needs to win at least one of its two remaining matches to secure a playoff spot. “If we play like we did tonight, I can see us winning at least one, and maybe two.”

— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535 ext. 318 or dhickling@journaltribune.com.