No. 7 Waianae was sailing along, but Farrington came alive late and the Seariders were fortunate to escape with a 27-21 victory in the OIA Division I quarterfinals Friday night at Raymond Torii Field.
It was a 27-7 game before the Govs fought like mad to close within a score.
“They’re a good team with a bunch of tough kids who are very scrappy and they played us all the way to the end,” said Waianae coach Walter Young, whose Seariders (6-3) move on to play Mililani in the semifinals. “Our defense played great and our offense had some miscues that we’ve gotta fix, but all in all it was a great job and we persevered until the end.”
Rico Rosario rushed for 164 yards and two touchdowns as Waianae built that lead to 20 points early in the third quarter.
“All we gotta do is make a little hole for Rico,” offensive lineman Wilson Kerisano said. “Rico is a real good running back who is very hard to tackle and he breaks tackles easily.
“We’re really pumped and are really looking forward to playing Mililani and trying to make it into states. Mililani is no joke, but we’re prepared for it. We’ve got our running game down and our defense is solid.”
When Waianae’s Eteuati Lui scored on a 7-yard TD run with 7:16 left in the game, it appeared to be in the bag for the Seariders, but the Govs (5-5) were not done.
Chasen Castilliano, who had two tackles for loss earlier, stripped the ball from a Waianae running back and sprinted 74 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-14 with 5:30 left.
“That was a life-saver,” Farrington linebacker Blessing Umaga said. “It gave us hope to come back, but it is what it is and it turned out we lost.”
After a Seariders punt, Governors quarterback Stephen Eter worked the two-minute drill to perfection and drove the team 90 yards. Tre Barrett caught pass that went for 16 yards before he lateraled it to Bobby Alualu-Alo, who went 37 more to the Farrington 3. On a fourth-down play, Eter scrambled and scored from 8 yards out, barely crossing the goal line for the 27-21 count.
“To me, that (comeback) was luck, honestly” the Seariders’ Kerisano said.
Waianae recovered Farrington’s onside kick attempt and ran out the clock.
Farrington dug a hole for itself early in the game with three turnovers on its first three possessions, and two of those led to Seariders touchdowns. The Govs’ season is done.
“It was a tough season, so up and down,” Farrington coach Randall Okimoto said. “We weren’t ready to play early. Three turnovers in a row. That was our problem all season, off and on.”
