YARMOUTH — A Kennebunk offense that scored 13 goals in a win over Cheverus last Friday was nowhere to be found on Wednesday afternoon. Luckily for the Rams, it showed up before it was too late, as Kennebunk scored three goals in the final 12:44 of regulation, then again 33 seconds into overtime to rally past North Yarmouth Academy 4-3 in a Class B boys lacrosse game.

Things started to go wrong right from the start for the Rams, as they turned the ball over on their first two possessions. The third possession finally netted Kennebunk’s first shot ”“ a wraparound shot by Tyler Elkington that missed wide ”“ but that possession also ended in a turnover.

The Rams (4-4) didn’t score in the opening quarter, and even after switching sides in the second, went into halftime down 1-0. Travis Lee scored a man-up goal for NYA with less than three minutes to play in the half that gave the Panthers (1-7) momentum heading into intermission.

“They played pretty good defense, but our offense didn’t show up; we weren’t producing,” said Kennebunk head coach Dan Seavey. “It was really a lot of giveaways. We were kind of just throwing the ball away, dumping it off.”

Kennebunk started to get its offense going in the second half, but all the Rams’ shots still failed to find the net. Patrick Gassman, Josh Hussey and Patric Murphy all sent shots wide in the first six minutes of the half.

The Panthers didn’t miss on a pair of shots midway through the third quarter. Haley Cunningham ran in untouched from the top-left of the zone for a goal seven minutes in after making his defender miss, and Wesley Bright made it 3-0 NYA 1:40 later on a quick shot in the middle of the zone on a pass from Max Bueche.

Kennebunk finally got on the board in the final minute of the third quarter. The Rams went a man-up 57 seconds to go and scored just 13 seconds later when Hussey fed Elkington at the left post.

The Rams cut the deficit in half four minutes into the fourth quarter when Gassman snuck a shot just inside the left post from the top-right of the attacking zone.

Kennebunk was dealt with adversity ”“ some of it self-created ”“ when the Rams went three-men down with five minutes to play after a slashing penalty combined with two conduct penalties. But the Rams were able to weather the storm, despite being out-numbered six players to four ”“ including goalie Ben Bath. Bath highlighted the defensive stand with a point-blank save on Lee with 15 seconds left in the kill.

“He’s always stout in goal. He’s always clutch for us,” Seavey said of Bath.

The Kennebunk defense then created the tying goal, as long-stick midfielder Nicco Delorenzo carried the ball out of the defensive end and found Hussey open at the left post. Hussey was able to fake out NYA goalie D.J. Nicholas and knot the game up at 3-3.

“We need to get started quicker, but we found ourselves battling back,” said junior Jake Boothby. “We’re getting pretty good at it.”

The Rams tried to end the game in regulation, getting three shots off during a single possession after Seavey called a timeout with 2:14 to go, but the Panthers were able to hold off the charge and take over possession with one minute to play.

NYA called a timeout of its own to set up one final charge, but Kennebunk played tight defense and held the Panthers without a shot, bringing the game to a sudden-death overtime.

After scuttling for the first 35 minutes of the game, the Rams needed just 33 seconds of the extra period to put an end to it. Gassman collected the ball on the defensive side of midfield, carried it toward the top of the attacking zone, and found Boothby open to the right of the goal. Boothby took one step and flipped a tough-angle shot past Nicholas to complete the Rams’ comeback.

“It felt pretty good, to just end that game,” said Boothby. “I was wondering where to place it, and then I was just thinking, ”˜Just get the goal and get out of here.’”

“I think it’s a reality check for them, honestly. Playing real tight and playing into overtime, we don’t want to be there,” said Seavey. “They pulled it together toward the end, and unfortunately, we should have been playing like that the whole game. But hey, a win is a win.”

The Rams return home to face Lake Region ”“ another one-win team ”“ on Friday before facing perennial-Class B power Yarmouth on the road next Wednesday.

“It’s toward the end of the season, we’d like to be in a better spot right now. Unfortunately, we’re battling things we should have fixed a lot earlier in the season,” said Seavey.

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.