Already a part of Farrington lore as a player, Randall Okimoto now sits atop the Governors’ coaching chart.
According to Hawaii Prep World research, the Governors’ 3-0 OIA Red win over Kailua on Friday at Alex Kane Stadium gave Okimoto — now in his 16th season as head coach — his 114th win and broke a tie with Al Espinda (113-52-5) for the most in program history.
Okimoto passed Skippa Diaz (108) in last year’s 8-4 campaign and is alone in eighth in OIA history.
“It’s awesome, but it’s a testament to our coaches and players and the love of Al Espinda and Skippa Diaz,” Okimoto said.
“Skippa Diaz was my coach and Al Espinda was my teacher. I love those guys. It’s just awesome for my name to be spoken in the same sentence with those two guys. I look up to them.”
Okimoto contributed to Diaz’ total as a record-breaking running back from 1989 to 1991. Okimoto led the Governors to the OIA championship in 1990 when he rushed for 2,149 yards, still the second highest single-season mark among Oahu schools. His 245-yard performance against Kailua that season remains fifth in program history.
He returned as head coach in 2002 and the Governors averaged better than seven wins per season in his first 15 years.
Win No. 114 won’t go down among the prettiest in Okimoto’s tenure, but the Governors managed to protect three points to win their third straight while handing Kailua its first loss of the season.
Sophomore running back Bobby Alualu-Alo (formerly Moore) ran for 159 yards on 15 carries, the bulk coming on runs of 53 and 86 yards in the first half.
“We want to run the ball as much as possible, and just play ball control until we bring our offensive line around, our quarterbacks around,” Okimoto said. “But they’re getting better. It’s going to come in due time.”
Alualu-Alo’s 86-yard sprint from the Governors’ 5 to the Kailua 9 set up Blessing Umaga’s 32-yard field goal, which held up as the difference in the game.
“It was an assignment bust where one guy took on a block and the other guy is supposed to fill but he didn’t go,” Kailua coach Joseph Wong said. “But (the Surfriders) responded, they pushed them back and held them to the field goal.”
Wong praised a “lights out” performance by the Kailua defense, which held Alualu-Alo to six yards on six carries in the second half, came up with two interceptions by La’a Russell and Dakota Kadooka in the third quarter and held the Governors to one first down after halftime.
But the offense accounted for most of the Surfriders’ 18 penalties for 131 yards in losses, derailing drives throughout the game.
“Points in this division are precious,” Wong said. “If there’s two tough teams like us and Farrington on the field, every opportunity you have to capitalize on and we failed to do that tonight on offense.
“We made a lot of big plays, there was a lot of nice things we did, but you can’t shoot yourself in the foot and push yourself out of scoring range.”
According to stat guru Thomas Yoshida, Farrington junior Cameron Faletufuga caught Kailua quarterback Aaron Mejia for 2 1/2 sacks and senior lineman Foi Sila was credited with 1 1/2. Defensive back Chasen Castilliano had both of Farrington’s interceptions in the Governors’ second shutout in the last three weeks.
After starting the season with losses to Kamehameha (34-15) and Campbell (26-20), the Governors have allowed one touchdown in the last 12 quarters.
That streak will be tested when the Governors (3-2, 3-1 OIA Red) face No. 3 Mililani next weekend at Skippa Diaz Stadium. The Trojans are averaging 36.8 points per game after beating Clayton Valley Charter 49-30 in California on Friday.
Kailua (3-1, 2-1) faces another stingy defense when Kapolei (2-2, 1-2) visits the Windward side.
Awesome achievement coach! Good luck this season! Go Govs!