Kakamega High school and St Joseph’s Kitale Girls are the new Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) football champions held in Thika.
In boys’ Kakamega finally won the title after many years of trying following their 3-2 victory against St Mary’s Yala in a tense final.
They needed 120 minutes before claiming the title since 2018 for the 15th title for the bKakamega based school.
The Enock Luche Clifftone Lugalia coached side won the title with goals from Derrick Wanyonyi, Julius Ochieng and Eugene Bellety.
Their overall tally now stands at 15 championships, although two were won under the Under 16 category.
Popularly called Green Commandos, scored first through Julius Ochieng in the 2nd minute and Yala levelled for 1-1 into break.
Brian Javan Omondi scored to give Yala the 2-1 lead for his brace in the 65th minute then Derrick Wanyonyi scored to a 2-2 draw to force the match into extra time.
Kakamega’s relentless pressure eventually broke Yala’s resistance in the 104th minute with Ombati scoring for 3-2 win.
In girls, St. Joseph’s Girls Kitale edged out 2019 winners Nyakach Girls 7-6 in a dramatic penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in the final after 120 minutes of entertaining.
Emily Adhiambo scored for Nyakach in the 28th minute for 1-0 lead then St. Joseph’s responded almost immediately after winning possession in a promising area when Miriam Silali calmly controlled the ball before lifting a composed finish over the advancing goalkeeper to level the scores at 1-1 forcing the match into extra time that did not yield any fruits to force the match to penalties.