Leland Mitchell defends a pass intended for Kamehameha's Avery Amasiu on fourth and goal for the Warriors. Brien Ing | SL

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Sat, Aug 13, 2011 @ Kaiser [ 7:00 pm ]

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Kamehameha

21

Farrington

26

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kamehameha (7-4-0)	14	7	0	0	21
Farrington (10-2-0)	0	14	12	0	26

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Travis Tamapua 83 yd 1 TD

Cid Camanse-Stevens 92 yd 1 TD

Tyler Taumua 132 yd 1 TD

Bronson Barretto 47 yd

Toma Barrett 70 yd 1 TD

Noah Mataele 38 yd

HAWAII KAI - On a special night, special teams rallied Farrington to a 26-21 nonleague win against Kamehameha Saturday night at Kaiser stadium.

In celebrating the school's 75th anniversary, Farrington honored its 1965 Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship team with a pregame dinner and with honorary captains for the coin toss.

Then the 2011 Governors honored the '65 team with two third-quarter scores by the special teams, the first on a blocked punt return and the game-breaker on a long punt return, to pull out the win.

"Special teams killed us," Kamehameha coach David Stant said.

Trailing 21-14, Keanu Foki returned a blocked punt nine yards for a touchdown that pulled the Governors to within one after the PAT failed.

"Our guys made a play, our captains, actually, Semo Sila and Keanu Foki," Farrington coach Randall Okimoto said of the blocked punt. "They helped big time, the senior players."

Sila blocked the punt and Foki picked up the loose ball and rambled to the end zone with 1:48 left in the third quarter.

"We took a little bit too long to get the ball off," Stant said. "They came 10 yards off the tackle; if we can't get it off (when they're) 10 yards off the tackle, something's wrong with us."

After the ensuing kickoff, the Governors' defense forced the Warriors to punt after three downs from their 25. Returner Setefano Lavatai had trouble fielding the ball cleanly, perhaps throwing off Kamehameha's breakdown, but found a wall of blockers and raced 80 yards to the end zone for what turned out to be the difference. This came with 21 seconds left in the third quarter.

"We didn't draw it up like that," Okimoto said. "It happened."

"I let it bounce, then I picked it up, saw my blocks," Lavatai said. "I saw a wall, read my blocks and took it down field."

For a punting team, its worst nightmare is when there is stop-and-go because it was hard to read Lavatai, who initially had trouble fielding the ball.

"Couple times they stopped during the break," Stant said of his punt coverage players. "The second time they stopped and then he broke. We told the boys go straight until the whistle. The second time he did the same thing, then he broke outside, broke our containment and he was gone. It was a good run. Credit to him."

The Warriors threatened twice in the fourth quarter, but the Governors' defense came up with big stops.

Kamehameha had fourth-and-4 from the Govs' 15, but lost the ball on downs after an incomplete pass with 4:39 left.

A 30-yard punt return by Alika McGuire to the Farrington 47 gave the Warriors good field position with 2:18 left. But the drive stalled at the 28 on an incomplete pass on fourth-and-5 with 48 seconds left.

It looked like the Warriors were going to spoil Farrington's celebration, jumping to a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter on Cid Camanse-Steven's 14-yard TD pass to Avery Amasiu and DB Cody Pregil's 26-yard fumble return.

Farrington struck back in the second quarter, first on a 36-yard TD run by Tyler Taumua off right tackle and later on Travis Tamapua's 17-yard TD pass to Toma Barrett, tying the game at 14 with 4:06 left in the half. Taumua led all rushers with 132 yards on 20 carries.

But with 2:08 left, Taylor Taliulu's 75-yard interception return for a TD put Kamehameha up 21-14 at the half. It was the second interception of the game for Taliulu, who played at Aiea last year, after playing as a sophomore for Kamehameha in 2009.

Kamehameha alternated quarterbacks Camanse-Stevens and Nephi Stevens, both juniors, on each play the whole game. Stant said both will continue to alternate in future games.

"I think we're going to go with both of them," Stant said. "I feel real comfortable with both of them."

There were only two penalties in the game, both against Kamehameha, totaling 20 yards.