Govs hit ground running to high-step into semifinals

KAILUA-KONA » Farrington slightly — yet significantly — altered the postseason mantra of "win or go home" Friday night.

For the Governors, their state tournament opener became a case of win and go home.

Unlike last year, when Farrington’s season ended with a neighbor island trip, the Governors’ excursion to the Big Island on Friday yielded a 34-25 win over Kealakehe in the first round of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division I Football State Championship at Waverider Stadium.

Farrington’s running back duo of Tyler Taumua and Abraham Silva combined to rush for 317 yards and five touchdowns to carry the Governors into the state tournament semifinals.

"Basically our game plan was to stick to our bread and butter and just run the rock," said Taumua, who finished with 171 yards and three touchdowns, including the clincher with 2:41 left in the game.

Silva ran for 108 of his 146 yards in the second half and scored twice after halftime as the Governors averaged 11.1 yards on their 20 rushing attempts in the second half behind their beefy offensive line.

"Workhorses," Farrington coach Randall Okimoto said of the line. "It goes back to all the hard work they put in in the offseason and the time they spent together from way before their sophomore years. I think it shows it’s paying off."

Farrington (10-2) is scheduled to return to Honolulu this afternoon after advancing in the tournament to face OIA Red champion Kahuku in the state semifinals at 7:30 p.m. next Friday at Aloha Stadium. Mililani plays Punahou at 4:30.

"They’re tough, they’re the defending state champs and they’re playing well," Okimoto said of the Red Raiders. "But we look forward to it."

Farrington departed for Kona on Friday morning, taking along the memory of last year’s first-round loss to Baldwin on Maui.

"That’s the first thing I told them — we don’t want to feel the way we felt last year," Okimoto said. "It was a good learning experience. To be able to bounce back from last year is a good life lesson for these kids."

Kealakehe slotback Lennox Jones finished with 137 yards and two touchdowns on the ground as the Waveriders (10-2) closed within two on three occasions in the second half but couldn’t quite catch the Governors.

"We’re close, but we’re tired of just getting close," Kealakehe coach Sam Papalii said after the Waveriders dropped to 0-7 in state tournament play.

"We just needed to get our guys to slow them down in the second half and we just couldn’t. We turned the ball over and you can’t do that against good teams. We didn’t have enough opportunities and that was the bottom line."

Kealakehe got its ground game started early and took the lead on Jones’ 1-yard run. But after giving up 52 yards on the ground on Kealakehe’s opening drive, the Farrington defense allowed 47 yards in total offense over the remainder of the half and the offense got its ground game on track on its second possession of the game.

Taumua scored on runs of 2 and 16 yards — with the second touchdown set up by a fumble recovery by Aisea Tavae — and the Governors led 14-6 at halftime.

Farrington fumbled away the opening kickoff of the second half and Kealakehe closed to 14-12 on Kainoa Kipapa’s 1-yard run.

The teams continued to trade touchdowns, with fullback David Fangupo scoring once and Silva plowing though holes at the line of scrimmage in reaching the end zone on Farrington’s first two possessions of the second half.

A roughing-the-punter penalty extended a Kealakehe drive in the fourth quarter and Jones bolted around the right side for a 40-yard touchdown on the next play. After a timeout, Farrington stopped Jones on the 2-point conversion attempt to preserve a 27-25 lead with 6:48 left.

The Governors then put the game out of reach with a 10-play drive, with Taumua scoring on a 7-yard run with 2:41 left.