The Bears, ranked fifth in the Advertiser poll, took over sole possession of first place in the Maui Interscholastic League Division I standings on ;ast night at War Memorial Stadium with a 19-8 victory over Na Ali'i.

"Hats off to my defense,'' Baldwin coach A.J. Roloos said to the Maui News. "It's a team win, but without the defense, we would've gotten steamrolled.''

Baldwin (3-1, 2-0 MIL) quarterback Jordan Helle went 7-of-17 for 88 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions, while slotback Skyler Cabacungan pulled in nine catches for 61 yards and a score, and added another 58 yards on the ground.

King Kekaulike quarterback Corry Roy opened with a smooth 26-yard pass to receiver Von Sparks to move the ball into Baldwin territory, but just as quickly as Na Ali'i gained ground, the Bears took it away.

After being sacked once for a 6-yard loss, Roy threw an interception that Baldwin linebacker Devin Sakamoto returned 25 yards for a touchdown.

But it didn't stop there. Na Ali'i (1-3, 1-1) picked up three first downs on their next offensive series but were forced to punt after penalties set them back. Cabacungan, back to receive, caught the ball at the Bears' 11-yard line and left the rest of the field in his dust for Baldwin's second score of the game.

"We had a great game and good defense tonight,'' said Baldwin linebacker Daniel Silva. "We just came out hard and had great coaching, too, on the side.''

Baldwin scored its one and only offensive touchdown of the game on the opening play of the second quarter. Helle launched a 28-yard pass to Cabacungan that provided the Bears' final points of the night.

"It feels good (to be unbeaten in the MIL),'' Helle said. "Defensively, we played our hearts out tonight — I mean, we can't ask more from our defense — but offensively, it's a little bittersweet.

"We didn't quite play up to our potential and kind of let our defense down, but as a whole, it's a good win for us.''

Kekaulike linebacker Kapo'o Pi'ena recovered a fumbled snap by Helle on Na Ali'i 23-yard line, but after three attempts at moving the ball, Kekaulike was forced to use a timeout in an effort to find a way to gain some ground. What resulted was a pass from Roy to Mikey Douglas that was stripped by Baldwin's Daniel Silva for a turnover, setting the Bears up on Na Ali'i's 28 and ending another potential scoring threat.

"We had one touchdown on special teams, one touchdown on defense and one touchdown on offense,'' Roloos said. "We take it week by week – we don't look ahead to anything.''

King Kekaulike found the end zone with less than two minutes left in the game. After battling through third and inches plus a fumble at the 1-yard line that was recovered by second-string quarterback Kawika Purdy, Na Ali'i's Edrian Dela Cruz ran in for a 2-yard score.

A bobbled snap left kicker Eli Smith with one option – to run the ball in for a conversion — and he put another two points on the board for Na Ali'i.

"Just too many penalties and we were playing a good football team and that's going to happen — the team who makes the least mistakes is going to win,'' said King Kekaulike coach J.W. Kenton. "We didn't execute — we'd pop off the big plays and then shoot ourselves in the foot and that's kind of how the night went.

"I'm not real happy but I'm all right — my guys hung in there and they didn't lose their heads, and that's an improvement on the first time of last year.''

Roy went 2-of-8 for 82 yards and an interception, and Mikey Douglas had eight carries for a game-high 116 yards.

The Maui County Fair break next week comes at a good time for both teams, who are missing key players due to injuries.

"We need the midseason break because tonight we had four or five guys injured - major injuries — so we got to get healthy and then we've got to face Lahaina,'' Kenton said.

Added Roloos: "We've just got to clean up a lot of things and get these kids healthy. This break will help.''