From the car wreck of fumbles, penalties and, well, more fumbles and penalties, Farrington made the most of a bevy of unexpected opportunities to advance past Kapolei, 37-20, in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference playoffs last night at Roosevelt.

Rallying behind a balanced attack of running back Apelu So'oalo, quarterback Dayton Kealoha, and receivers Drake Miller and Ani Isumu, Farrington took advantage of a Kapolei squad that frequently looked disoriented by its snowballing tallies of penalties — including several for having too many players on the field and for delay of game.

The Hurricanes started off impressively enough, repeatedly going to their running backs in a 74-yard opening drive capped by Simione Vehikite's 1-yard touchdown run.

The Kapolei defense also showed well in its first series, stopping the Farrington run and eventually forcing and recovering a fumble by Isumu.

But, that was about as much as the Hurricanes could muster in terms of positives in the first half.

The Governors tied the game on their next possession. Senior wide receiver Miller made a stunning double-bobble grab of a Kealoha pass to put Farrington on the Kapolei 1-yard line. So'oalo capitalized on the next play with a 1-yard rush just three seconds into the second quarter.

The Governors rode the momentum to another touchdown six minutes later, this one on a 9-yard rush down the middle by Siaosi Feleunga.

On the ensuing Kapolei possession, Farrington senior linebacker Isaiah Iuta stripped Onosai Faumuina on a tackle and ran 33 yards for a touchdown.

"I've been working on strips since I was a freshman," Iuta said. "That's got to be the best one I ever had. The coaches always tell us to go for the ball first, so that's what I did. When I saw the open field, I just wanted to get there. I just wanted to score."

The Governors extended the lead to 24-7 after a 33-yard field goal by So'oalo.

Then, with less than a minute left, junior defensive back Vaughn Tomas intercepted a pass from Kapolei's Trent McKinney. That set up a 36-yard touchdown pass from Kealoha to Iuta to give Farrington a 31-7 advantage going into the half.

"The defense played well and scored to get us the momentum in the first half," said Farrington head coach Randall Okimoto. "In the second half we just had to keep doing the job and finish it out."

The Hurricanes struck first after halftime with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Noah Pascua to .

Kapolei attempted an on-side kick, which Farrington recovered at the Hurricanes' 48. Two plays into the drive, Kealoha hit Sammy Park on the run. Park fumbled the ball but scooped it up, still in stride, on the second bounce and ran it in for a 45-yard touchdown.

"We obviously had some bounces that went our way," Okimoto deadpanned.

With less than nine minutes left in the game, Kapolei struck again with a 1-yard touchdown run by Pascua.

But any slim hopes of a Hurricanes' comeback disappeared as the two teams watched the game dissolve into a comedy of errors, combining to fumble the ball away four times within 15 yards of the Kapolei goal line in the last four minutes.

FARRINGTON (7-3, 5-1) 0 31 6 0—37

KAPOLEI (5-4, 4-2) 7 0 7 6—20

Kap — Simione Dehikite 1 run (Kevin Tanaka kick)

Farr — Apelu Sooalo 1 run (Robert Molina kick)

Farr — Siaosi Seleunga 9 run (Molina kick)

Farr — Isaiah Iuta 33 fumble return (Molina kick)

Farr — FG Sooalo 33

Farr — Iuta 36 pass from Kealoha (Molina kick)

Kap — Elijah Tagura 15 pass Noah Pascua (Tanaka kick)

Farr — Sammy Park 45 pass from Kealoha (kick failed)

Kap — Pascua 1 run (kick failed)

RUSHING — Farrington: Sooalo 15-124, Tuimasete 7-26, Seleunga 3-22, Molina 3-6, Tyrell Shipley-Lagnay 1-(minus 2), Kealoha 5-3. Kapolei: Tanaka 1-7, Tyrell Ontai 10-53, Shaydon Akuna 1-9, Dehikite 10-89, Onosai Saumuina 2-1, Donnie King 2-31, Pascua 7-7, Trent McKinney 1-(minus 1), Tagura 1-(minus 3).

PASSING — Farrington: Kealoha 5-10-0–129. Kapolei: Pascua 5-9-0–50, McKinney 0-1-1–0.

RECEIVING — Farrington: Sooalo 1-13, Drake Miller 2-35, Iuta 1-36, Park 1-45. Kapolei: Saumuina 1-11, Tagura 4-39.

Reported by Samatha Mageo