(Jay Metzger / Special to the Star-Advertiser)
Sanele Lavatai and Micah Kaneshiro were still years away from being born when Farrington and Roosevelt engaged in an OIA playoff shootout in 1992.
Their school-record performances on Friday were reminiscent of that matchup at Aloha Stadium nearly 21 years ago.
Lavatai’s 274 rushing yards and two touchdowns helped carry Farrington to a 41-38 win over Moanalua despite Kaneshiro’s 469 passing yards with three scores.
The contrasting offensive philosophies conjured memories of the shootout between Roosevelt quarterback Andrew Kamanao and Farrington running back Talbot Kahakai.
The offenses tore up the Astroturf with the Rough Riders flinging the ball downfield with abandon and the Governors answering with Kahakai’s power running before Roosevelt ultimately emerged with a 54-43 win.
Kamanao threw for 449 yards, 162 going to William Quinlan and 153 to Ricky Daley. Ryan Daley provided a semblance of balance with 69 rushing yards out of the four-wide formation.
Kahakai countered with 261 rushing yards and the Governors had no yards passing.
Back in the present, Kaneshiro made a run at Kamanao’s OIA single-game record of 481 set against Kalani in 1991. His total wound up tied for second-best in the OIA since the Prep Bowl era began in 1973, as he spread the throws to six receivers with the bulk going to Donald Lambert (10 catches, 177 yards), Chad Aragon (7, 131) and Jason Sharsh (10, 120). All three had touchdown catches and Aragon threw one to Kaneshiro for Moanalua’s first score.
Kaneshiro broke Ric Fukushima’s single-game school passing record of 441 yards in a 61-0 win over Kalani on Oct. 26, 2001. He completed 34 of 62 passes against Farrington as Na Menehune had just three rushing attempts, the first coming late in the third quarter.
Kaneshiro now owns five of the top 11 passing performances for Moanalua, all of them coming this season. In addition to his team-record total, he sits third (417 yards), fifth (295), ninth (285) and 11th (270), and has passed for 1,732 yards in Na Menehune’s five conference games.
Lavatai broke Resti Paguriagan’s school record of 270 rushing yards, set in a 52-20 win over Kalani on Oct. 30, 1987, despite sitting out most of the first quarter Friday night. His 60-yard touchdown late in the second kept the Governors within sight of Moanalua after Na Menehune opened up a 21-3 lead.
Lavatai ended the night with 33 carries, and his touchdown with 3:23 left in the game gave Farrington the lead for good as the Governors won their fourth straight and remained undefeated in the OIA Red East after an 0-2 start.
“This team believes in one another, I think that’s the key,” Farrington head coach Randall Okimoto said of the turnaround, which began with an overtime win over Castle on Aug. 31.
Farrington (4-2, 4-0) faces Kaimuki (1-5, 0-4) on Friday and closes the regular-season against Kahuku (4-2, 4-0) on Oct. 3.
Moanalua (2-5, 2-3) takes on Castle on Friday finish out its OIA Red East schedule.
Was a very good game