Kapolei's Jay Amina had a game-clinching 85 yard interception return for a score against Farrington. CJ Caraang | SL

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Fri, Sep 25, 2015 @ Kapolei [ 8:00 pm ]

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Farrington

6

Kapolei

23

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Farrington (7-4-0)	0	0	6	0	6
Kapolei (6-4-0)	10	6	0	7	23

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Taulia Tagovailoa 204 yd 1 TD

Bishop Rapoza 146 yd 1 TD

L.J. Esperas 39 yd 1 TD

Challen Faamatau 102 yd

Ty-Noah Williams 98 yd

Kingston Moses-Sanchez 115 yd 1 TD

KAPOLEI — For the first time this season, the Kapolei football team put together four quarters of solid play and the result was a historic one.

Behind a stout effort from its defense, Kapolei notched its first win over Farrington in program history with its 23-6 victory before a home crowd of about 1,000 fans Friday night.

The Hurricanes (4-3 overall, 3-3 league), who entered the weekend ranked ninth in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division I Power Rankings, scored in all three facets of the game to extend their winning streak to three games in the Oahu Interscholastic Association D1 Blue conference.

"God is our number one on our team," said senior defensive back Jay Amina, whose 85-yard interception return for a touchdown all but sealed the win in the final minute. "Without God we're not going to do good on the field. Tonight we made history. That was our goal tonight, to make history and we did it as a team, not individuals."

The seventh-ranked Governors (5-2, 4-2), who came into the game averaging over 35 points per game, were shutout in the first half. Their lone score came on a long pass late in the third quarter.

"It really feels good," said Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez, who is the only coach in the school's 14-year varsity history. "We've beaten every team in the OIA now, we can at least say that. We were 0 and 6 against Farrington and I thought we played them well over the years, we played them pretty tight, but I thought that tonight our defense really stood out. They did score on a long 70- or 80-yard pass, but I think — we're obviously not happy with that play — but we thought our defense played just lights-out football for four quarters."

Beau Meyer got the Hurricanes on the board midway through the first quarter with a 28-yard field goal. A costly roughing-the-kicker penalty against Farrington on a punt extended the drive near midfield.

Kapolei got the ball back at its own 42-yard line after a short Farrington punt on its ensuing drive. Two plays into the drive, running back L.J. Esperas broke loose for a long run to set-up a 3-yard touchdown pass from Taulia Tagovailoa to Jaymin Sarono four plays later. Meyer tacked on the extra point to make it a 10-0 lead after the first quarter.

The Govs had an untimely turnover four plays into the second quarter when quarterback Bishop Rapoza lost the ball on the exchange from center at the 1-yard line. Defensive tackle Noah "Punahou" Mahelona recovered the ball in the end zone for Kapolei, resulting in a touchback.

"Oh my gosh, that was so big and Punahou was out; he last played in the Mililani game," Hernandez said. "He had a concussion, so he was out and this week he just got cleared and he's such a powerhouse in the middle for us and he made an impact for us during the course of the game with his physicality in the middle."

The Hurricanes capitalized on the takeaway with a 13-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a 4-yard TD run by Esperas on an option pitch from Tagovailoa.

Kapolei appeared set to attempt what would have been a 34-yard field goal on 4th-and-10, but Farrington was flagged for a personal foul (unsportsmanlike conduct) after the third-down play, which moved the ball to the 8-yard line and left 4th-and-1. Hernandez sent the offense back out, but Farrington committed another costly penalty, this time an encroachment call, to give the Hurricanes 1st-and-goal and Esperas found the end zone on the very next play.

"We were thinking field goal, but only momentarily did I think about it, because I felt like our defense was playing so well that even if we didn't get it, (Farrington's offense) would have had to have gone 95 yards on us and we felt, at that point, our defense was playing pretty well, so we decided to go for it on fourth-and-1," Hernandez said.

That PAT was no good to extend Kapolei's lead to 16-0.

The Governors strung together a 12-play drive to follow, but ended up turning it over on downs at the Hurricanes' 11-yard line.

Farrington punted away on its first two possessions of the second half before Kingston Moses-Sanchez hauled in a 79-yard touchdown pass from Rapoza with 2:01 left in the third quarter.

Amina put the finishing touches on the win with his 85-yard pick-6 on a fourth-down pass by Justin Uahinui — the third quarterback the Govs used in the game — with just 27 seconds left in the contest.

"I just thought that there were so many guys that played really well on defense: Jay Amina, Leonard Lee, Tana Liana, Kekoa Kaopuiki. Our DBs really played well," Hernandez said.

Liana, a senior defensive back, also had a second-half interception and broke up two other passes.

"In all of our games all we've been doing was playing two quarters, but I believe this was our first game where we actually played four quarters," Liana said.

Linebackers Rocky Savea and Omar Mareko made nine tackles apiece, with two of Savea's coming for losses. Timmy Choi added seven stops, while Johnny Morrison and Mario "Pono" Fatafehi-Segovia each recorded a sack in the win.

Tagovailoa finished 16-of-37 passing for 204 yards with one interception. Ty-Noah Williams had a team-high 98 yards on five receptions and Sarono made six grabs for 68 yards.

Faamatau, who entered the game as the state's leading rusher, carried 25 times for 102 yards. Moses-Sanchez had game-highs of seven catches for 115 yards, while Rapoza threw for 146 yards on 14-of-23 passing with one pick.

It was the second loss in as many weeks for the Govs, who started the season by winning their first five games.

"Kapolei is good," Farrington coach Randall Okimoto said. "A lot of it was self-inflicted by us, but you've got to give them credit for making plays when it counted. They're playing well at this time of the year and that's the way you want to do it."

Both teams have clinched berths in the 12-team OIA tournament and close out the regular-season next week. Kapolei will host Aiea Friday, while Farrington will play Campbell at Aloha Stadium on Saturday.