SCARBOROUGH — At halftime of the Class A South boys’ lacrosse championship game, Scarborough Coach Joe Hezlep had a simple message for his attackers.

Work harder for shots. Don’t settle for the first open look. Not with Carter Landry guarding the Gorham net.

“If he gets a chance to see you when you’re shooting it,” Hezlep said, “you’re not going to score.”

The top-seeded Red Storm scored three times in the opening minutes of the third quarter to break open a one-goal game and went on to a 12-8 victory Wednesday night to reach the state title game for the first time since 2013. Scarborough (11-3) will face defending Class A champion Brunswick (12-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

No. 3 Gorham, which opened its season with a 9-8 victory in double overtime at Scarborough, finishes 12-3.

“It came down to their hustle,” said Gorham Coach Dan Soule. “They worked their butts off and covered the field real well with their speed and their athleticism.”

Scarborough never trailed. The teams alternated goals until it was 3-3 early in the second quarter. Sam Neugebauer scored twice in 28 seconds – the first goal set up by sophomore Marco Manfra – to give Scarborough the lead for good.

Neugebauer finished with four goals and an assist. Manfra had four assists and two goals.

“We weren’t able to get the shots we usually do and score on them,” Hezlep said. “We had to work for better shots, so it took us a lot longer to develop offense than it usually does.”

Landry, who finished with 26 saves, and a rugged Gorham defense combined to slow Scarborough, which led 5-4 at halftime after Tristan Brunet scored to pull Gorham within one.

A minute into the second half, Cam Thibault kicked off a three-goal flurry, and Neugebauer and Cam Nigro converted within 16 seconds of each other.

Nigro said Hezlep reminded the Red Storm during intermission to be a little more crisp, to make the extra pass.

“He said if we could just string a few passing combos together, it will end up in the goal,” Nigro said. “That’s what happened at the beginning of the third.”

Brunet scored again with two Scarborough players off the field because of slashing penalties to make it 8-5, but Gorham got no closer.

Nigro, Thibault and Marc Guerette each scored twice for Scarborough. Chris Tucker led Gorham with three goals, and Alex York had a goal and three assists. Cam Wright, Cam Tracy and Joe Gallant each scored once.

Scarborough played special attention to Wright, who was shadowed by sophomore Reece Lagerquist.

“He is a terrific player,” Hezlep said of Wright. “We felt like we did a good job of limiting his opportunities to go to the net. (Brunet and York) did a great job of taking the load, but we felt we were able to slow them down by making them go through their other options.”

Dominic Joy made nine saves for Scarborough, which was called for 10 penalties to Gorham’s eight.

“We were playing aggressive and got a couple tough calls,” said Scarborough defender Eric Murray, “but our penalty kill did a great job.”