The Maui Interscholastic League Division I Bears looked like they might have been headed for a devastating loss. They trailed 1-0 at halftime on a goal in the 35th minute that was headed in from eight yards out by Michael Jahns after a nifty pass from Matt McCraney.

But the Bears got the equalizer in the 58th minute on a 20-yard free kick by Bryce Nunes.

The MIL will send one team to the Division II state tournament and the Trojans (3-5-1, 10 points) moved three points in front of Seabury Hall (2-5-1), which has a game in hand, in the race for the state slot.

"That was a great game,'' St. Anthony coach Cemil Tanju said to The Maui News. "I'm proud of all the kids. We stepped up and played very well.''

The Trojans were pressed repeatedly in the final 23 minutes after Jahns was given a red card and sent off in the 57th minute. By league rule, he must sit out the Trojans' next game against Kamehameha-Maui on Jan. 16.

On the free kick that resulted from the call on Jahns, Nunes tied the game and St. Anthony finished the game one-man down because of the red card.

In the final 20 minutes, Baldwin (6-1-2, 20 points) had several chances.

St. Anthony goalkeeper Joshua Fukagawa stoned Baldwin's Nathan Fernandez on a breakaway from point-blank range after a beautiful cross from CeeJay Santos in the 60th minute. Two minutes later, Nunes chipped a shot over Fukagawa, but it landed on the top of the net. Four minutes after that, Fukagawa again came up big on a shot by John Takitani and St. Anthony defender Aaron Uehara was on the goal line to deny Takitani's shot on the rebound.

With 10 minutes to play, Baldwin's Kaleo Owan put the ball over the crossbar on an open shot and one minute later Mikey Marrs did the same thing.

"So far this is one of the best games we have played as a team,'' Tanju said.

The Bears fell into a tie for second place with King Kekaulike and both of those teams are three points behind defending champion Kamehameha-Maui (7-0-2). All three of the top Division I teams have three matches to play and the league will send two D-I teams to the state tournament.

Tanju said, "We knew Baldwin would come back tough in the second half because they always do. They are always a good team.''

The start of the game was delayed nearly 40 minutes due to a late-arriving referee.

Bears coach Kane Palazzotto said the delay did not help his team. He said they may also have had a letdown after playing Kamehameha to a 2-2 tie Saturday.

"It is kind of hard, you know,'' Palazzotto said. "We come out and first of all the game started about a half an hour late. So we were waiting and were slow. We had a good warm-up and we expected to come out and play good. We have been playing well for the last three weeks, we have been kind of dominating. We played well against Kamehameha, so maybe there was a little bit of a letdown. Kind of sitting around for 40 minutes waiting for the officials was kind of hard for us.''

Palazzotto said the Trojans were ready for the game, from the beginning.

"Don't get me wrong, St. Anthony wanted it tonight and they showed us they wanted it by beating us to the ball and we had our opportunities at the end that we should have put away,'' Palazzotto said. "I am not going to make excuses and say that is why we started off slow, but that is our second game where the officials haven't shown up on time. Our Maui High game started an hour late. We ended up winning that game 3-0, but we started slow in that one, too.''

BALDWIN GIRLS 2, ST. ANTHONY O

The Bears increased their lead for second place in the Maui Interscholastic League Division I standings with a victory over the Trojans last night at War Memorial Stadium.

The Bears got goals from Ayesha Pladera in the 28th minute and Jessica Long in the 75th minute.

With three games to play, Baldwin improved to 8-2-1 and has 25 points. First-place Kamehameha Maui (9-0-0) has 27 points and King Kekaulike (6-2-1) is third with 19 points. Both the Warriors and Na Ali'i have five games remaining in the regular season.

The Trojans, the top team in Division II with 14 points, dropped to 4-5-2.

MIL BOYS SOCCER STANDINGS

Division I

W L T Pts

Kamehameha-Maui 7 0 2 23

King Kekaulike 6 1 2 20

Baldwin 6 1 2 20

Maui High 1 6 1 4

Lahainaluna 0 7 1 1

Division II

W L T Pts

St. Anthony 3 5 1 10

Seabury Hall 2 5 1 7

Monday's Result

St. Anthony 3, Lahainaluna 2

Tuesday's Results

Kamehameha-Maui 4, Maui High 0

Seabury Hall 1, King Kekaulike 1

Yesterday's Result

St. Anthony 1, Baldwin 1

Saturday's Games

King Kekaulike at Lahainaluna, 2 p.m.

Baldwin at Kamehameha-Maui, 5 p.m.