Farrington’s aerial attack has come a long way, but in crunch time, it was the heavy-equipment crew that got the job done.
Sitani Mikaele rushed for 129 yards and two touchdowns, while Jacob Talamoa tallied two crucial second-half TDs as No. 10 Farrington rallied with a 23-point fourth quarter for a 37-27 win over Moanalua on Friday night.
Before a near full house at Moanalua, the visiting Governors went to their full-house backfield, assisted by the double-tight-end set, to take command of what was a back-and-forth game in the second half. Mikaele carried 29 times despite seeing an eight-man box through the first half. Talamoa, who added 5-for-5 kicking on PATs, started the game at wide receiver. He finished with 75 rushing yards on five carries, including scoring runs of 15 and 50 yards to spark the Govs, who trailed 20-14 entering the fourth quarter.
“I thought it was just going to be our boy, Sitani. They called me up to run. I was surprised I was going in and running,” said Talamoa, who also hauled in three passes for 50 yards. “This win means we’ve got to go back to practice and do more work.”
Farrington improved to 3-1 overall with the win, including 2-1 in OIA D-I play. Farrington pestered Moanalua’s talented sophomore quarterback, Tayden-Evan Kaawa, who passed for 148 yards and two TDs.
“I’m relieved. They’ve got speed and a great quarterback. I knew it was going to be a different game with him in there. He commands their offense and makes them better,” Farrington coach Daniel Sanchez said. “We felt that we could wear them down. They were blitzing us all over the place, so we had to put our best out there to go mano-a-mano against their guys, and it worked out for us.”
Kaawa was sacked three times by Farrington’s relentless pass rush. Defensive end Anelu Lafaele had one of his team’s sacks, and was a prominent blocking fullback when the Govs went full house.
“It was about working together, having the pressure off the edge and having our middle linebackers go and make the plays,” Lafaele said. “Moanalua has playmakers left and right. I feel all right. It should’ve been a better win, but it is what it is. We’ll take the win.”
Moanalua slipped to 0-4 (0-2 OIA Open) despite playing its best game of the young season. Jayce Bareng was electrifying with two long TDs.
“I like that our team came together and kept fighting the whole game. It got away from us at the end, but these boys were willing to fight to the end,” Moanalua coach Andrew Manley said. “We’ll keep our heads up. We’ve got our whole season ahead of us.”
After Moanalua gambled and came up short on fourth-and-7, Farrington drove 35 yards to pay dirt. Mikaele lined up at quarterback in a full-house formation and scored easily up the middle from 3 yards out on the first snap of the second quarter.
Moanalua needed just two plays on its ensuing series to score. Kaawa lofted a prayer down the middle against a heavy blitz for a 22-yard completion to Kila Keone. Kaawa then hit Bareng deep down the middle, and he raced to the end zone for a 60-yard TD. The game was tied at 7 with 11:19 left in the second quarter.
Andy Nguyen’s 40-yard field goal split the uprights for a 10-7 Moanalua lead with 6:31 remaining in the first half.
After a fumble by Farrington’s Ikaika Kuaana-Lacno on the ensuing kick return, Moanalua got a 22-yard field goal for a 13-7 lead with 3:23 left in the first half.
After permitting 13 unanswered points, the Governors scored late in the first half on a 25-yard TD strike from MJ Moreno to Chansen Smith in the right corner of the end zone. Farrington led 14-13 with 1:03 left before intermission.
The Govs received the second-half kickoff but self-destructed with penalties: a hold on the return, followed by illegal procedure on first down. On a punt, a personal foul on Farrington set Moanalua up at the Governors’ 21-yard line.
After an encroachment call on Farrington, Kaawa found Kila Keone for a 9-yard TD to give Na Menehune a 20-14 lead with 8:26 to go in the third stanza.
The second half seemed to unfold like the first for Moanalua, which went for it on fourth-and-1 from its 42-yard line and got stonewalled for a 3-yard loss by Farrington late in the third quarter.
The Governors then unleashed their full-house, sledgehammer attack, with Mikaele and Talamoa alternating at QB. They drove and had first-and-goal at the 3-yard line, but a bad snap led to a 6-yard loss, and that was followed by back-to-back illegal procedure penalties.
Talamoa then raced around left end for a 15-yard TD, adding the PAT kick for a 21-20 Farrington lead with 10:08 left.
Moanalua went three-and-out, but its defense buckled down to set up a 65-yard punt return for a TD by Bareng for a 27-21 lead and 7:13 to play.
Farrington regained the lead, 28-27, on a 4-yard blast up the gut by Mikaele with 4:10 remaining.
The Governors came up with the game’s biggest stop, tackling a Moanalua ballcarrier in the end zone for a safety with 3:58 left.
Moments later, Talamoa took the snap and turned the left corner for a 50-yard TD run. That opened the lead to 37-27 with 3:42 to go.
At Moanalua
Farrington (3-1, 2-1 OIA) 0 14 0 23 — 37
Moanalua (0-4, 0-2 OIA) 0 13 7 7 — 27
FAR—Sitani Mikaele 3 run (Jacob Talamoa kick)
MOA—Jayce Bareng 60 pass from Tayden-Evan Kaawa (Andy Nguyen kick)
MOA—Nguyen FG 40
MOA—Nguyen FG 22
FAR—Chansen Smith 25 pass from MJ Moreno (Talamoa kick)
MOA—Kila Keone 9 pass from Kaawa (Nguyen kick)
FAR—Talamoa 15 run (Talamoa kick)
MOA—Bareng 65 punt return (Nguyen kick)
FAR—Mikaele 4 run (Talamoa kick)
FAR—Safety, Moanalua runner tackled in end zone
FAR—Talamoa 50 run (Talamoa kick)
JV—Moanalua 41, Farrington 0.
RUSHING—Farr: Mikaele 28-129, Talamoa 5-75, Moreno 6-14, Lauititi Liufau 1-10, Kingston Miles 1-2, Ikaika Kuaana-Lacno 1-1, team 2-(-6), Noah Spencer 1-(7-7). Moa: Reshod Scott 9-13, Kaawa 11-5, Kama Corales 1-(-10).
PASSING—Farr: Moreno 7-17-0-111, Spencer 1-4-0-13. Moa: Kaawa 12-21-1-148.
RECEIVING—Farr: Talamoa 3-50, Smith 3-49, Tristan Sullivan 2-25. Moa: Bareng 4-85, Keone 3-33, Corales 2-13, Scott 2-6, Lucas Filisi 1-11.
