St Anthony's Kitale Hailed For Winning Hyped Secondary Schools Games Finals: "We're Champions"

• The much-hyped secondary schools' games hosted at Kakamega's Bukhungu Stadium ended on Saturday with 'Solidarity Boys' of St Anthony's Kitale being crowned the male champions
• They faced off with their opponents from Dagoretti High School whose hopes to take the win were deflated by two goals from the other side
• Solidarity Boys' rising finisher Aldrine Kibet netted a brace that propelled his team to Rwanda for the East and Central Africa schools' regional competition

Kakamega county - St Anthony's Kitale team is the male champion of the national secondary schools' ball games hosted at Bukhungu Stadium.

The winners and runners-up now prepare to represent Kenya in the regional East and Central Africa secondary schools' games set to be held in Kigali, Rwanda.

Solidarity Boys steal show at Bukhungu

St Anthony's boys faced off with their opponents from Dagoretti, who also put up a spirited fight; Dagoretti trounced the acclaimed Agoro Sare in penalty shootouts to book a spot in the finals.

The Dagoretti boys' hopes to take the game were deflated by St Anthony's midfield attacker Aldrine Kibet whose near-lethal screamer in the second half gave him the brace in the match.

Solidarity Boys, as they are fondly referred to, made it to the finals after defeating Shanderema of Kakamega in a tough match that ended with a solo goal.

A left-footed Kibet scored the goal to secure a spot in the Saturday finals.

The title is St Anthony's sixth one.

The matches were played on the Bukhungu turf whose environs have been inundated with fans and soccer lovers for a couple of days.

Now to represent Kenya in the oncoming regional games in Kigali will be St Anthony's, the overall winners, Dagoretti High, who are the first runners-up, and Shanderema, the second runners-up.

All accolades were for the Solidarity Boys following their remarkable campaign.

@Kenn Kip Arap Namdogo: "Amazing! Congratulations champions..We are proud of you!"

@Hemedy Suleiman: "Well deserved my school, very proud, congratulations to the principal, Mr Mayoyo, teaching staff, students, parents and all alumni, Alhamdulillah."

@Charles Waka: "Congratulations to all of you...nice game displayed."

@Andai Oscar: "Congratulations KD..Trans Nzoia we are great again."

@Fidel Ayobi: "We are happy as Trans Nzoia County...Solidarity for life."

George Natembeya's call to Solidarity Boys

On Friday, August 11, a day before the finals, the team received a special phone call from home governor George Natembeya who lauded them for their remarkable performance.

He fired them up for the game in hand and promised them goodies in the call.

"We need early and fast goals. You know when you defeat the home team that's being a champion.

If you defeat them I will be with you tomorrow. You know when I come there are goodies, right? For every goal, there is a gift. We are together in this," Natembeya said.

In the girls' soccer category, Butere Girls defeated their Wiyet opponents with a goal; the two will represent Kenya in the oncoming regional games, alongside Madira Girls.

Besides soccer, other games were volleyball, netball, rugby, and basketball.

The games were organised by the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) which has been hailed for aptly co-ordinating things.

Sports and Youth Affairs CS Ababu Namwamba said the government spent KSh 267 million to sponsor the games.