‘Iolani’s state tournament hopes had faded to a flicker with about 10 minutes left in the Raiders’ senior-day match.

Down a goal and needing a win to remain in contention for one of the ILH’s two berths in the Division I state tournament, two of the Raiders’ honorees provided the tying and go-ahead scores in a dramatic 3-2 victory over Mid-Pacific on Friday at Kozuki Stadium.

“We had to get the win; there was no choice for us,” ‘Iolani senior Keoni-Kordell Makekau said.

After MPI’s Payton Boyd scored two goals in a five-minute span to give the Owls a 2-1 lead about midway through the second half, ‘Iolani answered with Makekau’s tying goal with just under 10 minutes left.

About five minutes later, Matthew Alexander, making a run on the right side of the goal box, cut a shot to the far post for the go-ahead goal and the Raiders held off MPI’s last-minute push to remain in the state tournament race.

“We live another day,” Alexander said. “We’re still fighting to get into the state tournament. It’s almost inexpressible, but it’s an amazing feeling.”

The Raiders improved to 6-0-4, giving them 22 points (three points for a win, one for a tie) in the ILH standings. Mid-Pacific (7-1-2) remains in second place with 23 points behind Punahou (8-0-2, 26 points).

An MPI win on Friday would have eliminated ‘Iolani from state-tournament contention and a tie would have taken the Raiders’ finish out of their hands. But the rally kept them kicking heading into the final week of the regular season with matches against Punahou and Kamehameha left on the schedule.

“I think it shows tremendous character to be down and knowing that your season is on the line,” ‘Iolani coach Chris Lee said. “Especially on senior day. I think this is a day they’re always going to remember.”

Mid-Pacific, which won the past two Division II state championships and played without leading scorer Tyler Allen on Friday, has matches against Damien and Punahou remaining.

“I guess that’s the good news, we still control our own destiny,” MPI coach Jayson Abe said. “We still have to continue to put forth the effort and finish games through. I was a bit disappointed with the way we finished the last part of the second half.”

‘Iolani kept the action on the Ewa end of Eddie Hamada Field for most of the first half and broke through about two minutes before halftime. Makekau lofted a pass into the box that ‘Iolani senior Matthew Parke managed to bounce over the goalkeeper to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead at halftime.

MPI tied the match off a corner kick when Boyd scored off a header and took the lead a few minutes later on his missile into the upper right corner of the goal.

“It was a big blow, but we’ve been through a lot of struggles already,” Alexander said. “We just weren’t going to let it slip through our fingers.”

Makekau, an All-State receiver with the ‘Iolani football team who signed with Navy on Wednesday, broke free behind the MPI defense to convert a feed from Tyler Ebisuya into the tying goal and Alexander’s shot from a tight angle set up another high-stakes match with Punahou on Tuesday.

“We’ll be back tomorrow and it’s back to business,” Alexander said.