Mililani's Kiai Ramos (21) comes down with an interception against Farrington in the second quarter. Sylvia Lee | SL

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_19101903_MILCP.jpg - Sylvia Lee | SL

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MILILANI — Standout linebacker Wynden Hoohuli made the first third-down stop for the Mililani defense Friday night, but was shaken up on the play.

After a silent pause, Hoohuli's teammates carried him off the field.

They also carried the load the rest of the night.

The third-ranked Trojans recorded six takeaways, scored on a fumble return and kept the Farrington offense out of the end zone in their 34-7 OIA Open Division semifinal win over the 13th-ranked Governors at John Kauinana Stadium. They also punched their ticket into the state tournament with the victory.

"Defense has been outstanding. We're always going to hang our hat on our defense," said Mililani coach Rod York, whose team is the reigning league champion.

"Coach Vince (Nihipali) and the staff, coach Maa (Tanuvasa), they're doing a helluva of a job. We need (the defense) to play well throughout the postseason."

Stepping in the lineup when Hoohuli went down was senior linebacker Mark Pasternak, who finished with a game-high six tackles. He also had a sack, one of the Trojans' four fumble recoveries and made a fourth-down stop on the Governors' best drive of the second half.

"The way we think about it, when one man goes down, it's about the next man stepping up," said Pasternak. "We've got all of our starters and all of that, but on this team, we need to make sure that we have our backups ready.

"When it's time to step up, I got to step up and do my job. We stress that a lot 'doing your job.' That's how it is over at Mililani."

With the defense causing turnovers, the Trojans (8-3) were able to get off to a better start offensively after getting shutout in the first half of their previous two games.

Junior quarterback Brendyn Agbayani threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter and would have had more if it weren't for a number of holding penalties.

"We got more confidence with the quarterback, got more protection and we were able to find the weak spots and complete more passes," said York. "We still got a long way to go. We're still in the building process."

Agbayani was picked off once in the first quarter, but the Governors (2-8) coughed the ball up on a snap that was taken under center on the very next play. Kamalu Deblake was able to scoop up the loose ball for an 8-yard defensive TD to give Mililani a 17-0 lead.

"I think every time we had something positive, we turned over the ball," said Farrington coach Daniel Sanchez. "We had two picks, a lot of fumbles, that's not going to win us any games, especially against a team like this."

Farrington's season isn't over just yet, but injuries have piled up. The Governors were without standout running back Raymond Millare, who suffered a concussion against Kahuku in the last game of the regular season. Sanchez also said that quarterbacks Kulana Pate and Darius Chaffin may have injured their collarbone and ribs respectively against the Trojans.

"We got a lot of fixing offensively," said Sanchez.

Senior defensive lineman Tugase Williams scored on a 75-yard fumble return in the second half for for the Governors' only score of the game.

Kaulana Navares booted two field goals and Malosi Sam had a 3-yard TD run to account for the rest of Mililani's points.

Mililani was whistled for 15 total penalties. Of the penalties that weren't declined or were offsetting, the Trojans had 133 yards of penalties.