Farrington faced an early deficit, but regrouped almost instantly for a 52-8 win over Iolani in a non-league game at Kozuki Stadium at Eddie Hamada Field.

Running back Challen Faamatau amassed 278 yards from scrimmage with a score and the defense forced six turnovers — five coming on interceptions — in the Governors' victory Saturday afternoon. Farrington, ranked sixth in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division I Football Power Rankings, improved to 2-0 overall while the Raiders suffered their first loss of the year and dropped to 2-1.

The Governors dominated the trenches all day long, rumbling for 227 yards on the ground while limiting the Raiders to just 47 yards rushing.

"I think it was just a matter of physical size, just overcame everything," said Farrington coach Randall Okimoto. "We're just much bigger than those guys and we just used that to our advantage."

It was the first ranked opponent that Iolani has faced since making the jump up from Division II to Division I.

"We got whooped by a better, tougher and more physical team," said Iolani coach Wendell Look. "Hopefully we learn from it. That's part of the process of transitioning to where we want to get to."

Iolani jumped out to an early lead after Faamatau fumbled the ball on the Governors' first play from scrimmage. Cameron Chang recovered the loose ball at the Farrington 19-yard line to give Iolani its first possession of the game. The Raiders capped a five-play scoring drive with Tai-John Mizutani's three-yard touchdown pass to Tamatane Aga for an early 6-0 lead.

"The beginning of the game was all my fault," said Faamatau. "I fumbled on that first play and I take the blame. After that coach told us ‘if you make a mistake, make up for it on the next play.'"

The Governors responded with a 14-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with fullback Freedom Alualu's seven-yard touchdown blast. Alualu's PAT attempt was short to leave the score at a 6-all deadlock with 5:22 left in the first.

Iolani's next and final score of the game was a result of another Farrington miscue. A high snap on a punt return resulted in a safety for the Raiders.

The rest of the game was all Farrington as the visitors scored 46 unanswered points until the conclusion of the contest.

"It was still early in the game so there was no reason to panic," said Okimoto. "I'm glad we responded."

Alualu's second touchdown of the game gave Farrington the go-ahead score with 10:16 to play in the second period. A direct snap to TJ Tautolo on the PAT gave the Governors a 14-8 advantage.

With Faamatau and Alualu pounding the rock, Farrington's quarterbacks were able to make good decisions in the passing game. Signal callers Bishop Rapoza, Justin Uahinui and Joziah Anakalea combined to complete 14 out of 22 pass attempts for 245 yards. Rapoza, who started the game under center, added a 43-yard touchdown pass to Kingston Moses-Sanchez and a three-yard score to Jace Baguio in the second quarter.

"Everyone tries to stop our run so we always work on our passing game to balance our attack," explained Okimoto. "We're not even close to where we want to be, but we're going to continue to work on that so that teams can't focus on one thing and we become one dimensional."

The Governors also recorded two pick-sixes in the contest; a 59-yard return by William Prescott in the second period and a 38-yard return by Isaiah Taumua in the third. Ryota Kony also had two interceptions and Kody Leiu had another to round out the five total interceptions recorded.

"They did a great job," Faamatau said on the defense. "I was actually surprised. In practice they weren't really playing like this, but I guess when it was game time they brought their ‘A' game. I was really happy with their performance."

While the five interceptions looks good on paper, coach Okimoto feels that they could have played better.

"I thought we played a little sloppy," said Okimoto. "I know we got turnovers and stuff, but I kind of expect more out of our defense. We have to work on our techniques, how we drop and how we cover. I know it looked like we dominated, but personally I wasn't happy with how we played. We have to improve."

Farrington will travel to Roosevelt to take on Moanalua next Friday while Iolani has two weeks off before hosting Punahou in its Interscholastic League of Honolulu opener.