Upperhill downs St. Anthony to win nationals title

UpperHill’s James Peter in action in a past match. PHOTO/KSSSA

NYERI, Kenya Jul 7-Nairobi’s Upperhill have been crowned boys’ football champions after beating Nzoia Region’s St. Anthony’s Boys Kitale 3-1 on post-match penalties in the final of the Kenya National Secondary School Sports Association Term Two games on Saturday in Nyeri.

Despite going down to 10-men, St. Anthony’s pushed to take the game to penalties after a 1-1 stalemate in the regular 90 minutes.

On penalties, Upperhill players Douglas Mokaya, Tom Oluch and James Peter scored to give their team an edge while Ken Mukuria was the sole player to score for St Anthony.

“It has been a long journey and I feel I have achieved a lot personally,” Upperhill Captain Ramadhan Abdalla beamed after the win.

The boys from the Nzoia Region started the match with superb pace, dictating the tempo and were duly rewarded in the 33rd minute via a Mohammed Kazungu bullet that gave the Upperhill keeper no chance.

St Anthony dominated the high octane and physical match on the first and part of second half but Nairobi’s Upperhill changed strategy, playing a more offensive game and they managed to get the much sought equalizer in the 76th minute through Moad Machozi.

Goal-scorer Kazungu quickly turned from hero to villain when he was sent off with 10 minutes to time for a second bookable offense. Kazungu had picked up the first yellow for stripping his jersey in celebration while the second was for a poor tackle.

In the girl’s category, last year’s runners up Wiyeta defeated Ibinzo 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation time.

Machakos County’s Kwanthanze at the same time continued their dominance in volleyball, winning the girls’ title with a straight sets win over Cheptil. In the corresponding boys’ final, Sangare shocked the form books beating the highly fancied Malava 3-1.

-By John Kahiu-

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