Farrington played spoiler at Aiea’s homecoming, beating Na Alii 34-7 on Friday night at Radford’s John E. Velasco Stadium.
“It feels great. Coming off of a loss, we told each other we had to make a statement,” Farrington running back Sitani Mikaele said. “We worked hard Monday through Friday, and all the hard work paid off.”
If the goal was to make a statement, the Governors certainly achieved that. Farrington pounded Aiea into submission, running the ball 39 times for 300 yards.
“I’m glad that we can run the ball. This was a great effort as a group,” Farrington coach Daniel Sanchez said about the ground attack. “We had a bunch of guys run the ball successfully. It was just that type of game — we were able to run it and eat away the clock. We’ll keep working on the passing game. At the end of the day, you still have to be able to pass the ball.”
Mikaele was responsible for 16 of those carries, rumbling for 169 yards and four scores. Ikaika Kuaana-Lacno added 73 yards on eight carries.
“I just try to come in and hit the holes hard,” Mikaele said. “I trust my offensive line. They work hard every day. Kingston (Jennings), Koloi (Keli), (Makoni Tatafu), and Jacob (Maneafaiga) — they all come in and put the work in. I run behind them, I trust them, and they help me put up numbers.”
Aiea was led by quarterback Noah Deed, who completed 19 of 37 passes for 192 yards, a touchdown and two picks. Kheremie Cacpal was his top receiver with 110 receiving yards on 11 catches. Hiki Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo caught a touchdown pass from Deed among his 64 yards on five catches.
After three straight punts to start the game, the Governors came up with a big play on defense that swung the deadlocked momentum. Lauititi Liufau intercepted Deed’s pass and returned it to the Na Aliii 35. Farrington’s offense scored six plays later when quarterback Noah Spencer, a transfer from Aiea, scored on his former team with a 41-yard touchdown completion to Chansen Smith.
Aiea’s defense got some measure of revenge on Farrington’s next drive. Chad Colburn picked off Spencer on the first play of the drive, but a celebration penalty after the interception pushed Na Alii back to their own 4-yard line. Aiea went three-and-out and punted the ball right back to the Governors.
With a short field, the Governors doubled up their lead on just three plays. Mikaele carried the ball into the end zone from 12 yards out.
Trailing 14-0, Aiea drove to the edge of the Farrington red zone. Na Alii’s best drive of the half didn’t end in points however. Bryson Boyea-Quiton’s 40-yard field-goal attempt came up just short, hitting the bottom crossbar and bouncing out.
MJ Moreno replaced Spencer on the following drive, which ended after one play as Moreno threw a pick on his only pass attempt of the game. The Governors got the ball back four plays later when Deed threw a pick to Farrington’s Everest Rodriguez.
The Governors took advantage. Mikaele ran the ball three straight times, scoring his second touchdown of the game on a 5-yard carry.
Despite Boyea-Quiton’s earlier miss, Aiea sent the kicker back out on the final play of the half to try a 41-yard field goal. Boyea-Quiton’s kick was blocked by Liufau.
Aiea opened the second half with its best drive of the game. After a strong kick return, Na Alii drove down the field on seven plays, culminating in Deed’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo..
Meanwhile, Farrington didn’t miss a beat on offense, scoring two unanswered touchdowns, both by Mikaele, first on a 7-yard run, then his fourth rushing touchdown from 25 yards out.
Mikaele displayed his power, shrugging off a horse collar tackle on the 25-yard score.
Rodriguez later picked off Deed for his second interception to seal the game.
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at Radford
Aiea (1-6, 0-5) 0 0 7 0 — 7
Farrington (4-2, 3-2) 8 13 6 0 — 34
FARR—Chansen Smith 41 pass from Noah Spencer (Donivan Bergantinos run)
FARR—Sitani Mikaele 12 run (kick blocked)
FARR—Mikaele 5 run (Jacob Talamoa kick)
AIEA—Hiki Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 25 pass from Noah Deed (Bryson Boyea-Quiton kick)
FARR—Mikaele 7 run (kick failed)
FARR—Mikaele 25 run (Talamoa kick)
RUSHING—Farrington: Mikaele 16-169, Ikaika Kuaana-Lacno 8-73, MJ Moreno 2-23, Bergantinos 6-21, Kingston Miles 4-20, Ocean Iona 3-17, Team 1-(minus 2), Spencer 2-(minus 4). Aiea: Deed 7-20, CJ Hironaka-Ioapo 3-17, Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 4-13, Kobe Higa 6-5, Team 1-(minus 20).
PASSING—Farrington: Spencer 3-7-1-55, Moreno 0-2-1-0. Aiea: Deed 19-37-2-192, Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 2-3-1-20.
RECEIVING—Farrington: Smith 1-41, Giovanni Siamani 1-12, Talamoa 1-2. Aiea: Jheremie Cacpal 11-110, Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 6-69, Kila Spencer 1-31, Higa 2-3, Jeremiah Hill 1-(minus 1).
