The crowd near the top of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference Eastern Division boys soccer standings just got cozier, after visiting Kalaheo rallied past Kaiser, 2-1, last night in the regular season finale for both teams.

Kaiser remains in first place with an 8-4 record (24 points), with Kalaheo and Kalani (each 7-4-1, 22 points) right behind. Castle (6-4, 18 points) has two makeup games remaining and can still tie Kaiser for first, in which case a tiebreaker would determine the No. 1 seed for the upcoming league playoffs.

As for now, Kalaheo is happy it took care of its business and built some momentum for the OIA tournament with a quality victory on the road.

"We'll wait and see (about the final standings)," said Mustangs coach John Nakagawa. "We had to take care of what we can control, and I'm glad we did."

It took some focus and resiliency, after Kaiser took a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute on a surprising play. Kyle Niiro made a thrown-in from near the right corner toward the Kalaheo goal. The ball somehow went untouched past the usual crowd near the goal box until ricocheting off a Mustang and bouncing in just inside the back post.

"It was just miscommunication," said Kalaheo sweeper Nate Johnson. "(Afterward) we just said, 'Let it go, it's in the past,' and kept fighting and didn't give up."

The Mustangs struck seven minutes later when a shot bounced off Cougars keeper Keane Ellis toward the right side, where Kalaheo's Kord Walls took a hard right-footed shot from about 12 yards. The ball ricocheted off a Kaiser defender and darted into the net inside the near post.

The Mustangs then went up 2-1 after Joshua Amoroso scored on a similar play in the 39th minute. His first shot bounced off Ellis, but Amoroso quickly shot again and found the net from about the same spot as Walls' goal.

"Both of our goals were second balls, and that's something we emphasize in practice," Nakagawa said. "It takes determination to go after those."

Nakagawa credited his defense — led by senior captain Johnson — with holding off the Cougars in the final 54 minutes. Kaiser took six shots in the second half and had two corner kicks and two free-kick opportunities, but Kalaheo keeper Jon Dew had to make only one save.

"They played really solid," Nakagawa said.

Cougars coach Herb Schreiner said his team "came out flat," but said he's not surprised the Mustangs played so well.

"The East is always like that; this can happen on any day," Schreiner said. "This is a really good league."

Read Wes Nakama's blog on prep sports at http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.