Farrington turned to its bread and butter — a play-making defense and punishing ground game — last night to hold off Castle, 42-26, and secure third place in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association football playoffs.

A crowd of about 1,800 at Kaiser Stadium watched the Governors improve to 9-2 and advance to the Division I state tournament first-round game against Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Honoka'a on Nov. 20.

That game will be played at Kealakehe Stadium in Kailua, Kona.

Castle's season ends at 6-5.

The Knights had made a strong playoff run, upsetting Wai'anae in the OIA quarterfinals and losing 19-14 to Kahuku in last week's semifinals only after the Red Raiders scored the winning touchdown with 27 seconds remaining.

Castle put up another good fight last night, closing to 28-20 after Shaydon Kehano's 71-yard punt return with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter.

That's how the score remained until 1:25 left in the game, when Farrington safety Alvin Fa'amausili intercepted a deep out pass and returned it 35 yards down the right sideline for a TD. Shane Dsio then stripped the ball on the ensuing kickoff return and returned it 27 yards for a game-clinching touchdown.

Ekolu Kaina's sixth extra point made it 42-20 with 1:02 left.

"The whole game, they were picking on my side, so I knew what they were going to do," said Fa'amausili, a 6-foot-3, 168-pound senior. "When I backpedaled, I knew I had a good chance to make the pick."

Castle scored one last time — on a 65-yard pass from Jaymason Lee to Lowen Rogers — but by then only 10 seconds remained.

The Govs broke a 7-7 tie with 1:49 left in the first half on Harry Tuimaseve's 9-yard touchdown run, and made it 21-7 with 37 seconds left before halftime after Mo Tauaefa's recovery of a bad punt snap in the end zone.

The Knights cut it to 21-14 after Lee's 38-yard touchdown pass to Kehano with 10:24 remaining in the third quarter, but Farrington answered with Tuimaseve's 8-yard TD run three minutes later.

With 4:52 left in the quarter, Castle linebacker/fullback Garrett Paredes and Governors linebacker Seth Ilae were both ejected after personal fouls.

"That was a big loss, because Garrett is a key for us in all phases of the game," Knights coach Nelson Maeda said.

Each team was penalized for over 100 yards.

Tuimaseve finished with 151 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries.

CASTLE (6-5) 0 7 13 6 — 26

FARRINGTON (9-2) 7 14 7 14 — 42

Farr — Harry Tuimaseve 7 run (Ekolu Kaina kick)

Cas — Shaydon Kehano 9 pass from Jaymason Lee (Derek Hillegas kick)

Farr — Tuimaseve 9 run (Kaina kick)

Farr — Mo Tauaefa fumble recovery in end zone (Kaina kick)

Cas — Kehano 38 pass from Lee (Hillegas kick)

Farr — Tuimaseve 8 run (Kaina kick)

Cas — Kehano 71 punt return (kick blocked)

Farr — Alvin Fa'amausili 35 interception return (Kaina kick)

Farr — Shane Dsio 27 fumble return (Kaina kick)

Cas — Lowen Rogers 65 pass from Lee (pass failed)

RUSHING — Castle: Lee 7-(minus-2), Garrett Paredes 3-(minus-2). Farrington: Tuimaseve 33-151, Siaosi Feleunga 5-15, Jared Hakuole 2-(minus-2), Scotland Smith 5-11.

PASSING — Castle: Lee 27-38-2—277. Farrington: Hakuole 0-5-0—0.

RECEIVING — Castle: Hans Reppuhn 5-29, Kehano 11-161, Paredes 4-17, Rogers 5-68; Cory Ramos 1-0, Austin Dawson 1-2. Farrington: None.

Read his blog on high school sports at http://preptalk.honadvblogs.com