Farrington running back Abraham Silva runs in for a score in the second half against Kealakehe. Brien Ing | SL

Purchase image 1 of 7

Farrington's Tyler Liana and Kealakehe's Keoni Schweitzer battle in midair for the football. Brien Ing | SL

Purchase image 2 of 7

Kealakehe running back Lennox Jones runs in the open field against Farrington. Brien Ing | SL

Purchase image 3 of 7

Kealakehe's Jordan Cristobal gets airborne on a punt return against Farrington. Brien Ing | SL

Purchase image 4 of 7

Farrington LB Syndreck Dsio makes a tackle against Kealakehe. Brien Ing | SL

Purchase image 5 of 7

Kealakehe wide receiver Vincent Paogofie made a pass reception against Farrington. Brien Ing | SL

Purchase image 6 of 7

Farrington running back Tyler Taumua dives in for a first quarter score against Kealakehe. Brien Ing | SL

Purchase image 7 of 7

Fri, Nov 9, 2012 @ Kealakehe [ 7:00 pm ]

---

Farrington

34

Kealakehe

25

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Farrington (10-3-0)	8	6	7	13	34
Kealakehe (10-2-0)	6	0	6	13	25

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Jordan Cristobal 54 yd

Montana Liana 58 yd

Lennox Jones 141 yd 2 TD

Abraham Silva 172 yd 2 TD

Vincent Paogofie 27 yd

Joshua Teixeira 23 yd

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii - Redemption came a year later for the Farrington Governors.

Amo Silva ran for 172 yards and two touchdowns and Tyler Taumua added 144 rushing yards and three scores to lead Farrington to a 34-25 win over Kealakehe in an opening-round game of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Football State Championships Friday night.

A crowd of about 1,800 at Waveriders Stadium saw the Governors, ranked fourth in the ScoringLive/OC16 Power Rankings, improve to 10-2 and advance to next week's semifinal round at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium, where they will meet top-seeded Kahuku Friday.

Farrington, the Oahu Interscholastic Association's third-place team, avenged a first-round loss at Baldwin in last year's state tournament.

"That's what we told the kids before the game - that we don't want to feel what we felt like after last year's loss - and everybody responded," Governors' coach Randall Okimoto said. "It was a good learning experience to be able to bounce back from that."

The Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Waveriders, ranked 10th in the SL/OC16 Power Rankings, failed to win their first state tournament game in eight appearances, and saw their season end at 10-2.

Farrington used its patented, punishing ground game to rack up 304 rushing yards on 47 carries as a team. The Govs accumulated 24 first downs - all but three on rushes. Silva carried 24 times and averaged more than 7.1 yards per attempt while Taumua averaged over 7.5 yards on his 19 rushes.

"Playoff time, we want to get the ball to our best players and those two guys have been doing it all this year and all last year, too," Okimoto said. "We gotta give it to our best guys."

Lennox Jones' 40-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown run pulled Kealakehe to within 27-25 with six minutes and 48 seconds to play, but Farrington took nearly four minutes off the clock with its ensuing possession. The Govs orchestrated a 10-play drive that covered 75 yards - which included a key third-down conversion pass from Montana Liana to James Hashimoto - and culminated with Taumua's third touchdown run of the night.

On the scoring play, Taumua appeared to be bottled up inside by the Waveriders' defense, but made a jump cut to his left and beat the defender to the pylon for a 7-yard touchdown.

Justin Tamashiro made it a two-score game with the all-important extra point to make the score, 34-25, with 2:41 left.

The Govs allowed 141 rushing yards and two touchdowns by Jones, but got three takeaways on two Waveriders' interceptions and a lost fumble.

"I told our team that 'You have to win the turnover battle,' and we can't put ourselves in that kind of a hole," Kealakehe coach Sam Papalii said. "You can't do that against  good team like Farrington."

Vaoatea Sagapolu, Motu Heimuli and Austin Faumui each recorded a sack, Syndreck Dsio and Setefano Lavatai both picked off a pass and Aisea Tavae recovered a fumble for the Govs' defense.

"We just wanted to keep their O-line back from blocking us and get through to make the tackle," Faumui said. "We just tried to keep encouraging each other to keep doing what we're doing and we kept getting better and better and we made some big stops down the stretch."

Kealakehe opened the scoring on the game's first possession, driving 59 yards in eight plays - aided by a Farrington personal foul - and culminating in Lennox Jones' 1-yard scoring run with 8:31 to play in the first quarter.

However, the Governors capitalized on a pair of Waverider miscues in the first half.

A low snap to punter Bronson Cariaga allowed Dsio to tackle him for a 6-yard loss and gave Farrington possession at the Kealakehe 32-yard line. The Govs manufactured a 10-play drive that was capped by Taumua's 2-yard touchdown run with 2:00 remaining in the first quarter. After back-to-back encroachment penalties against the Waveriders, Farrington opted to go for two as Taumua ran it in to put his team ahead, 8-6.

The Govs' Aisea Tavae picked off a Kealakehe pass midway through the second quarter and Taumua scored on a 14-yard run - on a 3rd-and-6 play - six plays later. On the scoring play, quarterback Montana Liana drew in the Waveriders' defense on the triple option, faking to the fullback Silva, before he pitched it out to Taumua on the left edge. The extra point was no good and the Govs' took a 14-6 lead into the intermission.

"Montana Liana made some key plays and he's just one of the guys - the surrounding cast - that have been stepping up," Okimoto said.

The teams traded scores in the second half.

Kainoa Kipapa scored on a 1-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter, which pulled Kealakehe to within 14-12.

However, Silva answered with a 16-yard scoring run - his first of two second-half scores - on Farrington's next drive.

David Fangupo again pulled the Waveriders within two with his 2-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter and the ensuing PAT by Keoni Yates.

Silva carried four times for 79 yards on Farrington's next possession, which ended with his 5-yard touchdown run off left tackle.

Kealakehe made the most of a Farrington personal foul (roughing the kicker) on its next drive and Jones scored on the 40-yard run on the very next play.

"I knew we'd have to outscore them and I thought that we did a good job coming back in the second half, but we just could not stop them," Papalii said. "They were just running all over us. They were in a real rhythm offensively an we just had such a hard time stopping them defensively."

Farrington is now 4-7 all-time in the state tournament and 4-4 in the quarterfinal round. The Govs are making their fifth state-tournament appearance in the last six years and eighth overall.

"Coach gave us the talk - before the game and during the week - about not wanting to repeat last year, so it feels good to be able to come here and win," said Silva, who now has a state-best 1,632 rushing yards on the season.

The Waveriders, who did not complete a pass until the third quarter, saw their nine-game winning streak snapped.

Farrington now earns a rematch with No. 1 Kahuku, who won the regular-season game between the teams, 31-6, back on Sept. 29.