Farrington finishes third

No. 4 Farrington lives to play another day.

Abraham Silva and Tyler Taumua combined for 351 rushing yards and the opportunistic Governors took advantage of an injury to Leilehua starting quarterback Justin Jenks to pound out a 52-26 victory in the third-place game of the OIA Red playoffs on Saturday night at Kaiser.

The Governors (9-2) secured the OIA’s final berth in the Division I state tournament and will travel to Hawaii island to play Kealakehe on Friday.

"We had to come back from last week and regroup as a team, and it feels good to move on," said Taumua, who rushed for 173 yards on 19 carries and scored four touchdowns.

Taumua and Silva topped 100 rushing yards in the same game for the fourth time this year, helping Farrington match its season high in points.

Silva rushed for 178 yards and two second-half scores on 27 carries as the Governors outscored the No. 6 Mules (7-4) 25-0 after intermission.

"It’s nice to move on and experience the state tournament for this year’s seniors," said Farrington coach Randall Okimoto, who has led the Govs to states in five of the last six seasons. "I’m always happy to see (us) respond, especially after the big mistakes."

Robert McCarthy returned a Taumua fumble 39 yards for a touchdown and a bad snap on a punt allowed Leilehua to stay in the game in the first half after Jenks was taken to a local hospital in an ambulance after an injury suffered late in the first quarter.

The junior quarterback, who left the previous week’s loss to Kahuku early in the fourth quarter, was 9-for-13 for 132 yards and a touchdown before the injury, which caused a 20-minute delay.

"His head is a little sore and his neck is a little sore, but I think he’s more disappointed about being out of the game and not with his teammates," Leilehua coach Nolan Tokuda said.

With backup quarterback Levi Castanares still hampered by a back injury, the Mules turned to Fletcher Washington, who was called up from the JV team this week.

Washington threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter, including a 6-yard pass to Keoni Piceno on fourth and goal that tied the game at 13.

The injury to Jenks eventually caught up to Leilehua, which struggled to move the ball in the second half.

Washington was sacked three times and intercepted by Jacob McEnroe on the first play of the second half. McEnroe returned it 27 yards for a touchdown to give Farrington a 34-26 lead.

The Govs harassed Washington into four second-half sacks as he finished 15-for-38 for 132 yards with two interceptions.

"I never liked this game to be the last one," said senior Austin Faumui, who had 10 tackles and two sacks. "From the start of the game we tried to get (Leilehua) panicked."

Senior Keoni Piceno finished with five catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns for Leilehua, which was held to negative-22 rush yards.

The Mules failed to reach states for the first time since 2006.

"If you count wins and losses, for us, we always want to play through November, but we’re proud of the guys off the field and we hope the impact we make in these kids lives will stick with them even after football season is over," Tokuda said.