SCARBOROUGH — Clayton Spang was left disappointed and more or less speechless.

After fidgeting nervously through the course of an on-field presentation crowning the Scarborough Red Storm as the Western Class A boys high school lacrosse champions, Spang attempted to express his thoughts, a highly combustible mixture of shock and disappointment.

“We just threw it away,” the Kennebunk senior midfielder said in frustration after the Rams finished on the losing end of a 6-3 decision against the Red Storm Wednesday night at Scarborough High School. “We would have the ball for like two seconds and then lose it. We made too many mistakes and turned the ball over too many times. They wanted it more, and we didn’t come out right, so they got the win.”

The loss was disappointing considering that the second-seeded Rams (11-4) had advanced to their first regional final since 2008 on the strength of being a ball control team. They were anything but against the two-time defending Class A state champion and top-seeded Red Storm (13-1).

“It really came down to possession,” said Kennebunk coach Dan Seavey. “In the first quarter, what did we have? Two minutes of possession and they had 10? They tried to wear us down and got a couple of goals right off the bat there. That’s what this game came down to ”“ possession, and we did not win the possession game today.”

Goals by John Wheeler and Ryan Pallotta allowed the Red Storm to jump out to a 2-0 advantage after one quarter.

Despite their slow and sloppy start, the Rams showed they weren’t discouraged by the early deficit. Blake Dowe got Kennebunk on the board 1:46 into the second quarter, and Harry Hall found the back of the net with 2:52 left in the period to tie the game at 2-2.

“They really tried to get back and stop transition and it created some problems for us early,” said Scarborough coach Joe Hezlep. “We threw a lot of balls away due to their pressure in transition, but we knew we had to keep taking chances. We were willing to turn the ball over a few times to go for home runs. We got a big stretch there at the end of the first half where we connected on a couple of them.”

The stretch occurred in the final 2:07 of the half when the game took a decided turn in Scarborough’s favor following Hall’s goal. Just 45 seconds later, Cam Loiselle beat Kennebunk goalie Ben Bath to restore the Red Storm’s one-goal cushion. Loiselle’s goal was followed in short order with goals by Jon Blaisdell and Wheeler’s second of the game giving the home side a 5-2 lead at the half.

“When you have two good teams going head to head, a one- or two-goal lead is big, let alone a three-goal lead,” Seavey said. “It’s definitely hard to come back from that. In games like this you can’t let the other team get ahead like that.”

The Rams couldn’t recover and didn’t threaten for the rest of the game. Spang did score the lone goal of the third quarter to move Kennebunk back to within two, trailing 5-3 heading into the fourth quarter. That was as close as they would get.

Wheeler struck for his third of the contest to complete the scoring early in the final period.

Scarborough will be in search of its third straight state title Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The Red Storm will face Cheverus (11-4), the No. 4 seed from the East. The Stags doubled Deering (9-6), the third seed, 4-2 in the other regional final played Wednesday.

— Contact Mark Jeanneret at 282-1535, Ext. 323.