Punahou's Dakota Torres reacts after making a catch against Farrington. Eugene Tanner | SL

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Punahou WR Trent Sitar drags a Farrington defender after the catch. Eugene Tanner | SL

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Against the Buffanblu offense, the first thing opposing defenses must game plan for is limiting Punahou wideout Kanawai Noa. The 6-foot-0, 180-lb receiver is known for torching defenses so it's no surprise that opposing defenses try to double up their coverage on the playmaker.

While defenses can only hope to limit, not negate his effectiveness – evident by his three catches for 115 yards and a touchdown against Farrington – there are other dangerous receivers catching passes from Punahou quarterback Larry "Tui" Tuileta. In the semifinal round in the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Football State Championships against Farrington, it was tight end Dakota Torres and slot receiver Trent Sitar doing damage in the seams.

The duo combined for eight catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns. Torres also caught a two-point conversion pass on a point after touchdown.

"I like the slot position," said Sitar after the game. "Not much of a man-to-man (kind of receiver), more of finding open spaces and understanding defenses and what they're going to do."

Sitar burned the defense early in the game, catching a 21-yard touchdown pass to start off the scoring for Punahou. The 5-foot-10, 175-lb slot receiver was matched up with a safety playing deep and was able to run a corner route to perfection.

"There was a safety playing ten yards deep," explained Sitar. "I just have him a little move inside (faking) a post route, then I went back out on the corner. O-line gave (Tuileta) time and he put it right on the money; just pitch and catch."

"They just gave us a one-one-one (situation)," added Punahou offensive coordinator Teetai Ane. "We got what we were hoping to get. Trent ran a great route (and) Tui threw a great ball."

During the game, the Governor defense did a real good job stopping the run, limiting Punahou running back Wayne Taulapapa to a 2.1 yard per carry average. Because Farrington was so keen on stopping the run, which left some holes in their defense when the Punahou offense went play-action.

Benefitting the most on play-action passes was Torres in the tight end position. His 38-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter was a result of a play-action pass. The linebackers moved up seeing run, giving Torres the necessary separation to get free for a score.

Torres' scoring play on the two-point conversion also came on a play-action pass. Buffanblu running back motioned on a fly-sweep drawing the attention of the Farrington defense. Tuileta faked the handoff and then found a wide-open Torres in the back of the end zone.

"I just ran up the middle," said Torres on the two-point conversion. "I just turned around and put my hands up and it was there."

The 6-foot-2, senior tight end was also a good safety valve for Tuileta. Torres says he sometimes deviates from his route to find an opening in the defensive coverage.

"I don't really go far away from it, just stay in the same path and look for the creases," said Torres. "Just change my route a little bit to find (the) openings."

He also showed some versatility in the game, catching a pass out of the backfield like a running back.

"Dakota is great," Ane said about his tight end. "He's 250-lbs and he can run. He's athletic enough to catch and play in the backfield. Dakota gets a lot of mistmatches because a lot of the time in high school the tight end is (mostly) blocking. That makes it hard for defenses, especially on play-action. I'm going to miss him; I get to enjoy him for one more week."

All in all, both Torres and Sitar said it was more of a team effort, not their own individual game.

"It's really just based of how the game is going, just whatever is working," said Sitar. "It happened to be me today, it could be anyone though."

"It really starts with the O-line giving (Tuileta) time. Kanawai (Noa) also getting those double teams on him, it just opens up the offense for everybody. It's Luke (Morris), Micah Ma'a, Dylan Combs, everybody's contributing and everybody's stepping up right now. I think we're really coming together at the right time as a offense (and) as a whole team."

Punahou will take on Mililani in the championship game next Saturday night at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium. This will be the Buffanblu's third straight trip to the state title game in three years. They came up short against Kahuku in their two previous trips.

"It's a good chance to redeem ourselves, hopefully we can get it this time," said Torres.

"This win is huge but we're not done yet," added Sitar. "We're back in the state championship one more time. We just want to finish, that's been our motto the whole year."