Scarborough’s Ryan Hunt didn’t beat the Gorham Rams single-handedly in the Class A lacrosse semifinals on Saturday, but a glance at the scorebook sure made it seem that way.

Hunt outscored the Rams all by himself, pumping in seven of his team’s goals to help lead the Red Storm to a 14-6 win on the road. The win moved Scarborough into the Class A regional finals against No. 8 Kennebunk on Wednesday (a game played after the Current’s deadline, see www.keepMEcurrent.com for details from the regional final).

On Saturday, the No. 3 Storm got on the board first against the second-ranked Rams, and fittingly it was Hunt that opened the scoring, taking a nice pass from Jake Barrett in front and firing one past Gorham goalie John Allen to put the Storm up 1-0 with nine minutes left in the first quarter.

But Gorham battled right back, and with 5:06 left in the first, the Rams took advantage of a Scarborough penalty and evened the score at one when Gorham’s Brendan Ryan grabbed a rebound and fired it past Scarborough goalie Joe Kennedy.

That goal got the home crowd into the game, but just a couple of minutes later the fans who traveled from Scarborough had another chance to cheer.

With 2:30 left to go in the first quarter, Scarborough’s Christopher Kipp got the ball down in front of the Rams’ goal and fired a high shot past Allen to give the Red Storm a 2-0 lead.

But Scarborough wasn’t through yet.

With 55.7 seconds left in the first, Hunt struck again. Taking the ball at the side of the Gorham net, he wound through the defense, winding up in front of the net where he fired it home for his second goal of the game, giving the Red Storm a 3-1 lead.

Hunt would tally his third goal of the quarter with just 11.8 seconds left, and it was very similar to his first. Taking a pass from Barrett, Hunt got one past Allen to put the Red Storm up 4-1.

The two teams went into the second quarter battling for control of the ball and the game, and Gorham got the first break of the period with 7:15 left, thanks to a Scarborough penalty. With Gorham up a man, the Rams’ Brendan Ryan found teammate Ian Ryan at the side of the Scarborough net and Ian Ryan put it home to cut the Storm lead to 4-2.

But, as he did all game, Hunt had an answer.

Just over a minute later, with 6:02 to go in the first half, Hunt got his fourth goal of the game, making the score 5-2 Scarborough.

That’s when things began to get interesting.

With 4:35 left in the half, the Rams got one back when the Rams’ Mike Greatorex took a pass from Brendan Ryan and fired a high shot past Kennedy to make it 5-3.

Twenty-five seconds later, the Rams got on the board again when Alex Chase fired a low, bouncing shot into the Scarborough goal, and just like that, the Red Storm lead was down to one.

However, the Gorham comeback wasn’t done yet.

With 2:53 left to go before halftime, Brendan Ryan got a goal to go with his two assists, as he crossed in front of the net and fired a shot home, and suddenly, the score was tied at five.

But the tie didn’t last long, and once again, it was Hunt coming through for his team.

With just 1:32 left in the half, the Red Storm’s Daniel Clark found Hunt by the Gorham net, setting up Hunt for his fifth goal of the game, and regaining a 6-5 lead for Scarborough.

Scarborough would get a little breathing room just before the break when Clark wheeled in front of the Gorham net and scored on a turnaround shot with just 9.9 seconds to go before the half, making it 7-5 Scarborough.

Coming out of the break, Scarborough quickly seized the momentum, making it 8-5 on a Kipp goal just 55 seconds into the period.

Hunt got his sixth goal of the game with 6:18 left in the third after scooping up a loose ball and firing a low shot home, and the score was 9-5 in favor of the Red Storm.

Despite all of their efforts, the Rams couldn’t regain control of the game, and with 4:14 left, the Red Storm took a five-goal lead when Barrett got the ball outside the zone and weaved through the Rams’ defense to score. The Storm would make it 11-5 with 2:19 left in the third when Kipp bounced one home. Barrett made it 12-5 with 43.3 seconds left in the third.

Hunt would get his seventh and final goal of the game with 8:53 left in the fourth quarter and Barrett would close out the scoring for Scarborough with 4:17 left, making it 14-5.

The Rams, despite the fact they were down nine goals with time running out, continued to battle, and with 11.8 seconds to go, got a goal from Duncan Alden to make the final score 14-6.

The win sent the Red Storm into the regional final against Kennebunk, which upset top-ranked Thornton in the quarterfinals and knocked off No. 5 Cheverus in the semifinals. If the Storm win the regional final, they would square off against the Eastern Maine champion for the Class A state title on June 21 at 5:30 p.m. at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

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