Vihiga, Laiser Hill, Butere Girls shine, as schools games spring surprises

Newly crowned Brookside Secondary Schools Term One National Games boys’ rugby 15s and basketball champions, Vihiga Boys High School and Laiser Hill Academy, have now set their sights on conquering the East Africa Secondary School Games set for August in Kenya.

While Kenya has enjoyed considerable success in rugby 15s in recent years, basketball has remained a challenging frontier. The last Kenyan side to lift the boys’ basketball title at the regional games was Upper Hill School in 2013, when the tournament was held in Lira, Uganda.

In rugby 15s, Vihiga Boys High School are aiming to maintain Kenya’s dominance in the sport after clinching their maiden national title with a 14-6 win over Kisii School in the final held at Shimo la Tewa School yesterday. The country currently holds both the rugby sevens and 15s titles in the East African region.

Vihiga coach Abdalla Abubakar believes his team has what it takes to succeed at the regional level, despite this being their debut appearance on such a stage.

“We fought hard to win our maiden national title, and I laud my boys for battling hard to emerge as kings of rugby 15s. We now hold both the East Africa rugby sevens and national 15s titles, and that is quite a remarkable achievement,” said the coach.

Clinical penalty conversions

“We are not resting on our laurels, there is still much work to be done so that we perfect our game before the regionals in August. I know All Saints will not be ready to relinquish their East African title, and we are relishing the challenge,” he added.

In Saturday's final, Vihiga trailed 6-3 at halftime as Kisii’s Matrix Matangi converted two penalties to cancel out an early kick by Erick Festus.

Vihiga stepped up in the second half with Festus equalising and later putting his team ahead with two clinical penalty conversions, making it 9-6. Elvis Otieno sealed the win with a decisive try late on.

Dethroned champions All Saints Embu High School settled for bronze after a 19-3 win over 2018 champions Upper Hill School.

In basketball, Rift Valley’s Laiser Hill Academy clinched a record-extending 10th national title, edging out defending champions Dr Aggrey High School from Coast Region in a thrilling 71-69 final. Laiser, who had won their ninth title in 2023 in Eldoret, finished third last year in Machakos after losing 65-58 to the Coast side in the semifinals.

Coached by Kenyan international Eric Mutoro, Laiser Hill has won seven East African titles, but last triumphed at the regional level in 2012. Mutoro credited his team’s resilience throughout the tournament.

Dominant Butere Girls

“We have had to battle so many challenges since the first game, including some of our players not being able to play due to documentation issues, but we put that behind us to fight in every match and I couldn’t be prouder of these boys,” Mutoro said.

“This year we are hosting the regional games and I know playing on home soil will give us the extra advantage of ensuring that we wrestle the titles from the Ugandan sides,” he added.

David Muliri led Laiser with 14 points, while Chance Mutuma added 10.

In girls’ basketball final, Butere Girls Secondary School delivered a dominant 76-53 win over hosts Kaya Tiwi Secondary School. Mary Awino was in sensational form, scoring a game-high 32 points for the Cannons of Butere.

St Joseph’s Girls High School and Dagoretti High School won bronze in the girls’ and boys’ third-place playoffs, beating Olympic High School 48-43 and Lukenya Academy 96-72, respectively.