The sixth-ranked Bears may need all of them to be ready after losing at War Memorial Stadium for the first time since October 2004, 38-15 to San Clemente of California last night.

The Tritons finished 8-3 last season after losing in the first round of the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section playoffs.

They are an impressive 1-0 this season after dismantling a Baldwin team that has been in the Division I state semifinals each of the last two years.

"That is a great team, but this is great for my team,'' first-year Baldwin coach A.J. Roloos said to The Maui News. "We can learn from this. This is a great team from California and they have got good coaches. Our kids played tough. We made mistakes, but it is correctable.''

The Bears (1-1) gained respect from veteran San Clemente coach Eric Patton, who was taking a team to Hawai'i for the fifth time since 1990. Patton said it took an impressive effort for his team to subdue Baldwin, which was playing for the second straight week without record-setting receiver Chase Nakamura.

"We really were playing at top form tonight for an opening game,'' Patton said. "I am really impressed with the kids' effort and our coaches had our players really at midseason form tonight. I don't think we made any mental mistakes, penalties didn't hurt, we were really clicking pretty good and our defense was really storming to the football.''

Patton said it could have been a slightly different story if Nakamura, who had 20 touchdown catches last year in 12 games, had played. He sat out with a sore knee for the second straight week, but is expected to be ready for Maui High.

"They are a great team, there is no quit in them,'' Patton said of the Bears. "We were very lucky that number 23 didn't play. We knew he was the guy we had to stop and when he didn't play, that really opened us up to do some things that we wouldn't have been able to do if he was in there.''

The Tritons had a 123-person travel party including their junior varsity. A total of 17 cheerleaders also led a large contingent of fans from the 3,000-student school.

After facing a 24-3 halftime deficit, the Bears came out and grounded out an 18-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that was culminated by a 7-yard scoring strike from Jordan Helle to Brennan Canencia-Black with 3:05 left in the third quarter. When the pass on the point-after attempt fell incomplete, the Bears were back within 24-9.

It quickly got worse for Baldwin from there.

On the second play of the ensuing possession, Brad Curtis hit Alex Wendling over the middle and Wendling outsprinted the defense for a 75-yard touchdown pass to make it 31-9 with 2:01 to go in the third quarter.

Three plays later, Ben Gomez intercepted Helle and returned the ball 26 yards to the Baldwin 19. That drive ended in a missed field goal by Aaron Jones.

The Tritons' next possession traversed 49 yards in four plays when Ryan Colt caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from backup Duke DeLancelloti for a 38-9 margin with 8:07 to go.

The Bears tacked on their final touchdown when Helle – who finished 20 for 40 for 178 yards and three interceptions – hit Kale Kamahele for a 46-yard touchdown with 7 seconds left.

In the first half, things went bad quickly for the Bears when San Clemente's Jade Micalef fielded the opening kickoff on the right sidelines, juked a couple of defenders and went 90 yards for a touchdown 15 seconds in.

"There is nothing like that to set the tone,'' Patton said.

After the Bears went three and out on their opening possession, the Tritons went 37 yards in six plays and took a 10-0 lead when Aaron Jones nailed a 43-yard field goal with 7:32 left in the first quarter.

An interception by Baldwin's Gannon Pacubas stopped the next San Clemente drive, but the Tritons got the ball back three plays later when Helle over shot his intended receiver and the pass was intercepted by Nick Provencio on the San Clemente 26.

Four plays later, Gomez broke free for a 54-yard touchdown run and a 17-0 lead with 16 seconds left in the first quarter.

After another interception — this one by San Clemente linebacker Jordan Cenzer — the Tritons had a short field on the Baldwin 21.

An 18-yard pass from Curtis to Micalef set up Curtis' 3-yard touchdown pass to Matt Axline. Jones' third PAT made the score 24-0 with 9:22 to go in the half.

The Bears got on the scoreboard when freshman Cee Jay Santos kicked a 34-yard field goal with 4:19 to go before the intermission. That score was set up when Baldwin's Mana Rosa recovered a fumble by Gomez on the San Clemente 30.

San Clemente did not punt until the final minute of the game.

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San Clemente 17 7 7 7—38

Baldwin 0 3 6 6—15

First Quarter

SC—Jade Micalef 90 kickoff return (Aaron Jones kick), 11:45.

SC—Jones 43 FG, 7:32.

SC—Ben Gomez 54 run (Jones kick), 0:16.

Second Quarter

SC—Matt Axline 3 pass from Ben Curtis (Jones kick), 9:22.

B—Cee Jay Santos 34 FG, 4:19.

Third Quarter

B—Brennan Canencia-Black 7 pass from Jordan Helle (pass failed), 3:05.

SC—Alex Wendling 75 pass from Curtis (Jones kick), 2:01.

Fourth Quarter

S—Ryan Colt 38 pass from Duke DeLancelloti (Jones kick), 8:07.

B—Kalei Kamahele 46 pass from Helle (pass failed), 0:07.

Junior varsity—San Clemente 7, Baldwin 6.

Maui Interscholastic League

Yesterday

San Clemente 38, Baldwin 15

Today

Valley Center (Calif.) at Kamehameha Maui, 6 p.m.

Lahainaluna vs. Bonita Vista (Calif.) at War Memorial Stadium, 7:30 p.m.

El Capitan (Calif.) at King Kekaulike, 7:30 p.m.

Tomorrow

Trojans vs. West Hills (Calif.) at War Memorial Stadium, 4:30 p.m.