No. 2 Farrington stymies McKinley, 26-7

Farrington's Setefano Lavatai returns a kickoff against McKinley. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Farrington held McKinley to minus six yards of offense in the second half in a 26-7 win Saturday night at Roosevelt's Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium.

The Governors improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red East, while the Tigers fell to 2-3 and 1-2.

With a bye next week, Farrington will be waiting for its crucial division showdown with Kahuku on Sept. 29 at Aloha Stadium. The game will likely decide the division champion.

McKinley's defense did a reasonably good job of containing Farrington's dynamic duo backfield of Tyler Taumua and Abraham Silva to a combined 179 yards, but the Governors' defense was superb. The Governors got six turnovers, four interceptions and two fumbles. Setefano Lavatai returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown, while David Luafatasaga had two picks. Tre Boyd had the fourth interception.

"Our defense has always played well," Farrington coach Randall Okimoto said. "Our offense was uncharacteristically making penalties, keep setting ourselves back."

Farrington had 12 penalties totaling 115 yards; five were for illegal procedure. But McKinley only managed five first downs, one of them by penalty.

McKinley won the coin toss and elected to defer its choice to the second half. It opened the game with a failed onside kick that gave Farrington possession at the Tigers' 39. But Farrington mustered only six yards and punted, pinning McKinley at its 6.

But the Tigers needed just three plays to take the lead when Denzel Kalahiki-Gasper hit Tyrell Tuiasosopo with an 84-yard TD pass with nine minutes, 10 seconds left in the first quarter. Liva Logoi's PAT gave the Tigers a short-lived 7-0 lead.

The Governors wasted little time to tie the score, getting a chunk of yardage on a 64-yard pass from Montana Liana to Francis Evangelia to the McKinley 12. Four plays later, RB Jackie Anakalea plunged into the end zone from one yard. Shanelle Atabay Carillo's PAT tied the game at 7 with 8:08 in the first quarter.

The teams exchanged fumbles on their next possessions. But Farrington cashed in on McKinley's turnover, driving 49 yards on six plays with Taumua scoring on a three-yard run with 2:10 in the first quarter. The Govs missed the PAT to keep it 13-7.

After a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, Lavatai increased the Govs' lead when he returned his pick for a score with 1:33 in the quarter. A 2-point conversion failed to make it 19-7.

McKinley turned over the ball two more times before the half and the score remained the same until 45 seconds left in the game, when Liana hit Tyler Liana on a three-yard TD pass. Atabay Carillo's PAT made it 26-7.

Taumua finished with 118 yards rushing on 24 carries, while Silva had 61 yards on 16 rushes.

McKinley linebackers Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta and Brandon Walker each had two tackles for losses. It was apparent that each was a spy on the Governors' RB tandem. Tuitele-Iafeta's tackles were on Silva, while Walker's were on Taumua.

"No. 44 for McKinley (Tuitele-Iafeta) played a great game," Okimoto said. "We had to try and block him; he was making a lot of plays."

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].