Punahou's Wayne Taulapapa runs in for a score against Farrington. Amber Popovich | Special to SL

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Punahou's Kanawai Noa breaks away on a 77-yard touchdown reception against Farrington. Eugene Tanner | SL

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Farrington's Montana Liana scrambles against Punahou. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Punahou's Tumuauatasi Tuinei tackles Farrington's Jacob Baguio. Eugene Tanner | SL

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Fri, Nov 15, 2013 @ Aloha Stadium [ 7:30 pm ]

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Farrington

6

Punahou

48

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Farrington (9-4-0)	0	0	6	0	6
Punahou (11-0-0)	12	8	14	14	48

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Larry Tuileta 430 yd 5 TD

Montana Liana 124 yd 1 TD

Kotoni Sekona 28 yd 1 TD

Manu Masalosalo 74 yd

Kanawai Noa 115 yd 1 TD

Jacob Baguio 80 yd 1 TD

HALAWA — In the penultimate game of his already accomplished prep football career, Larry Tuileta had one of his finest performances Friday night.

The senior quarterback threw for a season-high 430 yards and five touchdowns to lead Punahou to a 48-6 win over Farrington in a semifinal game of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I State Championships at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

The Buffanblu, who have been ranked atop the ScoringLive/OC16 Division I Power Rankings all season, improved to 10-0 and advanced to their third consecutive state title game.

It was Punahou's first game in three weeks, since it beat Kamehameha for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu crown on Oct. 25. The top-seeded Buffanblu had a first-round bye last week while the Governors had to travel to Maui for a opening-round game against Baldwin.

"During those weeks that we had off, we really didn't want to treat it as a break, we wanted to take the opportunity to continue to improve," said Tuileta, who completed 23 of his 34 pass attempts and completed passes to nine different pass catchers. "I mean, we wanted to get some rest, but we wanted to improve and really perfect our craft and just get better."

Tuileta tossed touchdown passes of 21, 77, 14, 21 and 38 yards and helped the Buffanblu accumulate 15 first downs by pass and 21 overall. He completed his first five pass attempts and was 14-of-20 passing for 250 yards in the first half.

"That's just him — the bigger the game, the better he plays and the more pressure he gets, the more calm he becomes," Punahou coach Kale Ane said of Tuileta, a third-year starter who will take the field one last time in next Saturday's D1 state championship game against second-seeded Mililani. "We've been extremely lucky to have him and I'm already missing him."

On the other side of the ball, the Buffanblu defense allowed just 186 yards by the Governors, including a meager 62 rushing yards. Farrington played without leading rusher Sanele Lavatai, who sustained a collarbone injury in last week's win over Baldwin.

"It feels great — Farrington is a good team, they're a good running team," said Punahou outside linebacker Ronley Lakalaka, who had two sacks and three tackles for losses. "I know that their first-team running back was out, so that was a key to our game and we have to thank our D-line — they did very good — they plugged holes and let the linebackers make plays."

Kalama Chun registered a team-high nine tackles and Ruairi Brady added 2 1/2 sacks. The Buffanblu collected nine sacks against the Governors for a total of 45 yards lost.

"Agenhart (Ellis), our defensive coordinator, and his staff have done a tremendous job all year of getting after people," Ane said. "They scheme things, but again it comes down to putting people in the right place, looking at their talent and turning them loose and they did a good job."

The Buffanblu scored on their first two possessions of the game. Punahou needed just four plays to drive 73 yards, culminating in a 21-yard Tuileta-to-Trent Sitar touchdown pass. Tuileta was sacked for a 3-yard loss on the first play of the game, but threw completions of 26 yards to Dakota Torres and 29 yards to Wayne Taulapapa to set-up the scoring play. The extra point was blocked and Punahou took a quick 6-0 lead with 79 seconds in.

After a Farrington punt, Punahou got the ball back at its own 22-yard line to start its next drive. The Buffanblu strung together a 10-play drive that resulted in Taulapapa's 1-yard plunge into the end zone with five minutes and 12 seconds left in the first quarter. The PAT was wide left and no good.

"Our players were making plays and it just gets the momentum going and it gets everyone going, so I think it was just a constant motivator throughout the game," Tuileta said.

The score held until late in the second quarter when Punahou went quick strike with a 77-yard touchdown pass from Tuileta to Kanawai Noa, who exploited busted coverage by the Govs' defensive secondary. Noa lined up in the left slot receiver position and caught a short pass on a slant route and went untouched the rest of the way. The Buffanblu got the ensuing two-point conversion on a pass from Tuileta to Torres and they took a 20-0 lead into halftime.

Tuileta hooked up with KJ Sekona for a 14-yard touchdown pass on Punahou's first second-half possession and later in the third quarter, he found Taulapapa for a 21-yard scoring strike. Three plays into the fourth quarter, Tuileta threw his fifth touchdown pass on a 38-yarded to Torres. Sekona closed out the scoring with a 16-yard touchdown run with 4:52 remaining.

"In the beginning, we were having a hard time with our run-game, but the thing about having players like (Noa), (Sitar) and (Torres), is that when one thing isn't working, another person is working," Tuileta said. "They make the defense really stay on their toes and they just run crisp routes, which is what makes them really great."

Tuileta's 430 passing yards is the second-highest single-game total in state-tournament history. He has thrown more career touchdown passes (16) than any other player in the state tournament.

Farrington's lone score came on a 61-yard touchdown pass from Montana Liana to Jacob Baguio in the third quarter.

"We knew with Sanele being out, we knew that that was going to set us back a little bit on the offensive side of the ball," Farrington coach Randall Okimoto said. "We're not very deep in that position, too."

The Governors saw their emotional season come to an end at 9-4. Two weeks ago, defensive back Dayne Ortiz disappeared after the kayak he was on while fishing with his family on Oahu's North Shore overturned.

"All in all, I thought it was a great season — I don't think anyone expected us to be here — the kids really played over their heads this season," Okimoto said. "To have all these new guys come in, I thought they did a good job and I'm really proud of them."

Punahou is now 5-0 all-time in state semifinal games and will be making its fifth appearance in the championship final. The Buffanblu, won their only state crown in 2008, are 1-3 in title games, including back-to-back losses to Kahuku the past two seasons.