KENNEBUNK — When Kennebunk’s Jake Lary lined up for an 18-yard field goal with his team down by a point and just 10 seconds left in a wild Western Class B semifinal against Westbrook on Friday night, he faced an unusual problem.

“I was actually worried that it was too close,” said Lary, the Rams’ senior kicker. “When I first went up there I thought it was going to hit cross bar because of the wind and the flight of the ball.”

But after taking an extra second to set himself, Lary nodded to holder Larson Coppinger to indicate he was ready, took two steps and slotted the biggest kick of his life just inside the right post to send Kennebunk to a 17-15 win at Veterans Memorial Field, capping an incredible last minute of play and saving the Rams’ perfect season in the process.

“I was in awe,” Kennebunk coach Joe Rafferty said. “Absolutely stunned, because our guys didn’t play very well and they played us tougher than tough and we were very lucky to get out of here with the win.”

The boot capped a last-gasp Kennebunk drive that had started after a huge defensive stand got the Rams the ball back at their own 22-yard line with no timeouts left and 1:08 left on the clock.

After three incompletions brought up fourth down, quarterback Nick Emmons found his favorite target Coppinger for the first time all night, hitting him in stride on a fade route deep down the right sideline for 53 yards to keep the Rams’ hopes alive.

Emmons, dealing with a hurt thumb on his throwing hand sustained the week before in the quarterfinal round against Morse, had completed just two of his 15 passes for 10 yards before making the perfect deep throw when his team needed it the most.

“I just dropped back, trusted my lineman and heaved it,” Emmons said. “I knew Larson was going to be open and it was right on the money.”

The Rams then hurried to run six plays, two of them Emmons spikes to stop the clock, and also benefited from a Westbrook unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty to move the ball down to the 1-yard line for a game-deciding fourth down with 10 seconds to play.

Although Emmons (20 rushes, 117 yards) and fullback Nicco DeLorenzo (25 rushes, 122 yards) had been gobbling up yards going right up the middle all night, Rafferty said the play call was obvious.

“It was shorter than a PAT,” he said. “We had to (kick) it.”

The confidence in Lary, who had missed a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter, was then rewarded as his kick from the left hash mark sailed all the way across before just tucking inside the far post with 5.7 seconds to play.

“Once I saw it go up I could tell,” Lary said. “It doesn’t have to be pretty, as long as it goes in.”

That was the story of Kennebunk’s night in general as the Rams (10-0) did everything within their power to hand the game to Westbrook (7-3) on a silver platter, committing 14 penalties for 114 yards, including two that nullified Chris Broadhead’s interception return for a touchdown on the second play of the game.

Westbrook took advantage of the numerous penalties and mistakes to take a 7-0 lead two minutes into the second quarter on a 1-yard Collin Joyce run, with Kennebunk answering on DeLorenzo’s 7-yard scamper with 40 seconds left in the half.

The Rams then looked to have taken control of the game in the third quarter, exclusively using the battering one-two punch of Emmons and DeLorenzo on a 14-play, 72 yard drive to take a 14-7 lead on an Emmons 5-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.

After a Westbrook three and out, Kennebunk looked to be on the way to sealing things with another long drive into Blue Blazes territory.

But after taking a timeout to discuss a fourth and one at the 20, disaster struck when DeLorenzo fumbled the direct shotgun snap and slipped trying to recover.

Westbrook’s Kyle Heath was Johnny on the spot, picking up the ball and taking it 78 yards the other way to make it 14-13 with 3:18 left.

A personal foul after the play moved the ball up to the one and a half yard line for the point after attempt, and instead of playing for the tie, Westbrook coach Jeff Guerette went for two and got it as Joyce rumbled over to put the Blazes, who gained just 29 yards of offense in the second half, ahead 15-14.

“It was pretty close to mudville there for a while,” Rafferty said. “We put the ball on the ground and it killed us.”

“Our captains pulled us in a huddle and told us to never give up,” Emmons said. “That helped us keep our heads up.

“We worked all year for this, and we didn’t want it to end here.”

Things then looked to be over for the Rams when Heath picked off Emmons to give the Blazes the ball at the Rams’ 32 with 2:13 to play.

Three plays, nine yards and two Kennebunk timeouts later, Westbrook had their own game-clinching fourth and one chance but Joyce, who up to that point had carried 14 times for 119 yards, was stuffed on the play.

“Our defense came up huge on those last couple of plays, absolutely huge,” Rafferty said. “The spirit of those guys when I called that last timeout, they looked into each other’s eyes and they said ”˜we can do this.’”

That never-say-die attitude then manifested itself in the last drive as the Rams saved their season and set up a date next week with the winner of today’s other semifinal between Marshwood (7-2) and York (7-2), when a state championship birth will be on the line.

“The gloom and doom was there,” Rafferty said. “Somehow we did it; I really can’t explain it. Hopefully we’ll learn from this and use it next week.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323.