The Governors celebrate after Liki Taoai recovered a fumble in the end zone for Farrington's final touchdown of the night. Leighland Tagawa | Special to SL

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NANAKULI — Stephen Eter provided a spark when the Governors needed it the most.

The senior quarterback threw three scores and the defense did its part to lead Farrington past Nanakuli, 35-0, for their first win of 2017 in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I-Red Conference contest at the Golden Hawks' field on Friday night.

After dropping to Kamehameha and Campbell, the Govs snapped a two-game skid to improve to 1-2 overall, 1-1 league. The Golden Hawks, who picked up their first Division I win over Aiea last week, fall to 1-2 overall, 1-1 league.

"It feels great, but we have a lot of work to do. We have to take one game one by one," said Eter.

"It's always important. You have to get that one win to get encouraged. The good sign for us is after the loss to Campbell everyone showed up on Saturday. That was a good sign and tonight they got the job done and good to see them bounce back," said Farrington coach Randall Okimoto.

Farrington's stingy defense forced five total turnovers for the game with three of them leading to scores. Wendell Alob intercepted two passes while Liki Taoai recovered two fumbles, one of which resulted in a score. Thane Tanuvasa was disruptive with two sacks and a pass breakup.

"The defense did great today. They had sacks, fumbles, and everything went great tonight for us. We still have to improve on both sides of the ball," said Eter.

"We got back to playing the defense we usually play," said Okimoto.

Starting quarterback Chris Afe-Alaivanu went down with an injury after a rushing attempt near the Govs' sideline and never returned. Eter was lined up in the backfield or as a receiver for the opening series. He threw three touchdowns for 15, 17 and 25 yards to finish with 110 yards on 8-of-18 passing. Reginald Faamatau, younger brother of 2016 All-OIA D1 Red Conference Offensive POY Challen Faamatau, hauled in two of Eter's three scores.

"I have to step up and be the next man up. It's what we did and got ready," said Eter.

"Those two guys know it's a two-quarterback system that we work and he (Stephen) was ready to go," said Okimoto.

Nanakuli ran a nine-play drive that got all the way down to the Farrington 3-yard line, but Liki Taoai recovered the ball off a bad snap for a 7-yard loss to stave off the threat.

When his number was called upon to line up under center, Eter immediately redeemed Tyrese Futialo's sack and fumble into points as he threw a 15-yard score to Reginald Faamatau.

The Govs forced another turnover after Alob's interception and six plays later, Eter found Tre Barrett for a 17-yard touchdown.

The Golden Hawks, who went 1-for-3 on fourth downs, turned it over on downs and Farrington extended their scoring drive after Nanakuli was called for a roughing the passer penalty. Two plays following the penalty, Chase Castillano rushed for a 46-yard touchdown to make it 21-0 with over four minutes left in the half.

Nanakuli missed an opportunity in the red zone as Alob intercepted Kipi again, and two plays later, the Govs wasted little time as Eter found Faamatau from 25 yards out, but Blessing Umaga missed the PAT to make it, 27-0.

Taoai recovered the ball in the end zone after Umaga's sack and strip and Eter's pass to Foi Sila for two gave Farrington a 35-0 lead to initiate running clock near midway through the third quarter.

Chayce Morgan had two fumble recoveries to lead the Golden Hawk defense.

Farrington hosts No. 3 Kapolei (2-0 overall, 1-0 league) on Aug. 26 while Nanakuli travels to No. 10 Kailua (2-0 overall, 1-0 league) on the same night.