Farrington dumps Castle in Red East opener

Although Farrington had already logged two impressive wins, coach Randall Okimoto made sure the Governors approached Saturday’s game as a fresh start.

After posting nonconference victories over Waianae and Saint Louis the previous two weeks, No. 2 Farrington opened the OIA Red East schedule with a 44-3 win over Castle at Roosevelt’s Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium.

"This one counts," Okimoto said of his message to the team leading up to the game.

The Governors (1-0 OIA Red, 3-0 overall) got balance within the running game, as Abraham Silva and Tyler Taumua combined for 176 yards and ran for two touchdowns each and sophomore quarterback Montana Liana threw for 154 yards and a score.

Silva led the Governors with 92 rushing yards on 11 carries, while Taumua finished with 84 yards on 14 attempts.

While the Governors offense surged forward, the defense kept Castle moving in reverse for much of the evening. Farrington kept Castle in negative total yardage until the final play of the third quarter and limited the Knights to 3 yards of total offense after giving up 56 points in its nonconference games. The defense also contributed to the scoring with a third-quarter safety.

"We’re coming along," Okimoto said. "We were disappointed in the amount of points we gave up in our first two games, but we cleaned that stuff up. It’s just a lot of work we need to do if we want to be a real contender."

Castle (0-1, 0-3) suited up 28 players for Saturday’s game and had four two-way starters out of action.

"It came down to the trenches and they just dominated," Castle head coach Nelson Maeda said. "They’re a very physical team and they have good athletes in the skill positions.

"We’re really thin, but tonight’s score was all Farrington. We’re not making any excuses."

The Governors defense pounced on a fumble on the game’s second play from scrimmage to set up the offense’s first score.

Liana, who completed 11 of 14 passes, connected with Tyler Liana on an 18-yard pass to put the ball on the Castle 10, then handed the ball to Silva on three consecutive plays, with the last going for a 4-yard touchdown run.

Castle forced Farrington to punt on its next two possessions, but a botched punt attempt gave the Governors the ball at the 29 and Taumua scored three plays later on an 18-yard run.

Long completions by Montana Liana set up two short touchdown runs. His 29-yard completion preceeded a 1-yard run by Jackie Anakalea and a 42-yard connection with Francis Evagelia set up Taumua’s second score on a 4-yard run.

Castle’s lone score of the half — Kyle Urasaki’s 29-yard field goal midway through the second quarter — was set up by a muffed punt and two Farrington penalties.

Castle’s Isaiah Ukauka intercepted a pass at the Knights’ 5, but the Farrington defense turned the turnover into points when Dane Tai sacked Castle quarterback Kela Shea in the end zone for a safety.

The Governors stretched the lead to 37-3 when Montana Liana lofted a deep ball to Tyler Liana, who made the catch and raced to the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown with 49 seconds left in the second quarter.