SCHOOLS: Shanderema holds St Anthony's Kitale as East Africa games intensify

Francis Makutwa of St Anthony's Kitale possesses the ball against Shanderema players during national secondary school second term ball games held at Bukhungu stadium of Kakamega on August 11. [Benjamin Sakwa,Standard]

National bronze medalists Shanderema Secondary School from Kakamega on Monday held six-time national champions St Anthony's Boys Kitale to a 1-1 draw as the Federation of East Africa Secondary School Sports Association (FEASSSA) games started to pick up the pace in Rwanda.

The Western Region champions who had a debut to forget on Sunday when they lost 2-0 to Amus College needed to avoid defeat to revive their semifinal hopes and Kelly Madada led the dark horses after meeting in the first half to give Shanderema a narrow 1-0 half time lead.

In the final half, St Anthony's came out stronger with numerous attacks which paid off when Stanley Waswa restored parity with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Attempts by the Peter Mayoyo side to get a winner were not successful as Shanderema survived to pick a point.

The draw leaves St Anthony's third on the log with two points, two points behind joint leaders Amus College and St Henry's Kitovu all from Uganda.

With three matches left, the Group which also has Kalangalala and CGFK from Rwanda is wide open as the six teams in the pool continue to fight for the two semifinal spots.

"We tried our best to win the match. We had numerous opportunities in the second half to win the game but we still have room for improvement. All we need is to win against Amus College and then we build from there," said Mayoyo after the match.

Nairobi Region champions Dagoretti High School who lost on Saturday to Ecose will play their second match against Kibuli Secondary on Tuesday.