With high school only being four years, there are few players who are bonafide veterans. After falling short in the state semifinals the past two years, Farrington quarterback Montana Liana returns for one more go around in his senior campaign. In the past two years, Liana has competed in 26 games with a 19-7 win-loss record (.730). He has accumulated 2,316 passing yards and 18 touchdowns over that time period.

A trip to Kalihi earlier this week allowed ScoringLive to catch up with the three-year starter.

ScoringLive: How excited are you for this upcoming season?
Montana Liana: "Very excited, especially for the new change that the OIA had made going away from East and West into (Division I) Blue and Red divisions. I'm excited to play new teams during the regular season, and more teams as well."

SL: As a three-year starter at your position, how have you handled the leadership aspect of the game?
Liana: “As a leader (in) my sophomore year, being the youngest on the team, leadership and getting the older guys to listen was hard for me. Now that I’m going to be a senior, leadership is easier than when I was a sophomore. Guys are listening more and they’re willing to listen to get better. They are hungry for (a) championship.”

SL: What were some of the things you tried to improve on in the offseason, and how have you gone about it?
Liana: "I've been trying to improve my spiral, my throws, my accuracy, as well as my speed. For improving my speed I go to this guy Michael Clark. I train with him on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at his place at Kakaako, running the hills to improve my speed. For my spiral and accuracy I've been working with my dad Carl Liana. On Sundays we've been going to coach Joel Lane from Iolani. He's been helping me alot to improve my spirals and to get better."

SL: This is your third year at the helm, how comfortable are you with the team's offense and playbook?
Liana: "In my sophomore year we were like 90-10 in run to pass (ratio). My junior we changed it a little, about 70-30. This year we're thinking about going 50-50 run to pass. That builds more pressure on me, but I told coach that I can handle it and I would love passing more this year so I can be that team captain leader that I am. It's going to be a fun season."

SL: For the past two year, Farrington has fallen in the state semifinals. What do you guys have to do collectively as a team to get over the hump and into the big game?
Liana: "Coach has been emphasizing the big three games at the end of the year to us: the OIA Championship, the (state) semifinals and the state championship. We've proven that we can get there, we just have to work harder, do all the little things to get us over the hump. It's just effort, the little things like putting in extra work after practice to improve our technique and skills."

SL: Out of the returning quarterbacks this upcoming season, you have the most postseason games under your belt with 10. How much pressure do you put on yourself to bring a title back to Gov Nation?
Liana: "The pressure is on me hard, but I just got to stay cool and be the leader that I can be. You can have the best skills on the team, but with no leadership you cannot go nowhere and you don't win nothing. To lead you team to be disciplined well help your team to get to the championship. Just building that chemistry, that bond with each other will help alot because your teammates will have your back."

SL: What has been the most satisfying win of your career so far, and why?
Liana: "My junior year against Kahuku at the stadium. It was our homecoming game and we had alot of fans. Our crowd, they was pumping us up and we came out with the win, 21-7. It was satisfying at the time, but at the end of the season we didn't come out with the championship so it wasn't as satisfying as the night when we won."

SL: On the flip side, what loss of your career has driven you the most to be better, and what did you learn from it?
Liana: "The loss against Mililani in the OIA Red Championship game. Coming into there, we were (physically) ready, but not mentally ready; so this year we improved so we can be mentally and physically ready so we can do better than how we did last year."

SL: I know you touched on this earlier, but how do you like the new divisions?
Liana: "I'm excited for the new divisions, playing more West teams than East teams this year. It'll be more of a challenge this year I think. More harder teams that will better us for the playoffs, to help us know where we stand in our division. We just got to come out winning every game."

SL: What are your expectations for yourself this season?
Liana: "My expectations is to get a higher percentage in my passing rate and to get my yardage up. If I do that, I know that our offense will be moving and we'll be scoring. That will help take pressure of our defense so we'll be working as a team in the games. When our offense is scoring our defense can play relaxed (a bit) and focus on stopping the other team's offense. We'll be working as a team; one team, one family."

Farrington travels to Baldwin to open the year before coming back home to host Waipahu in the opening week of the OIA Division I regular season.