Laiser Hill from Kajiado and Wiyeta Girls from West Pokot emerged as the Chapa Dimba na Safaricom Rift Valley region champions in matches played over the weekend.
Wiyeta took the girls’ title after beating Itigo Girls 3-0, whereby Wiyeta’s Edina Wanda opened the scoring in the 11th Minute followed by a goal from Jacinta Karemana in the 34th Minute with Opisa Shaylene netting the final goal in the 45th Minute.
In the boys’ finals, Samson Tanui scored for Kapenguria Heroes from West Pokot shortly after the first whistle in the 8th Minute. A determined Laiser Hill came from a goal down in the 78th Minute with a goal from Majabe Shariff after he scored a penalty to end the game 1-1 in normal regulation time forcing the game to go to a post-match penalty shootout, where Laiser Hill won 4-2.
Both Wiyeta Girls and Laiser Hill won Ksh. 200,000 and will now represent the Rift region in the national finals set for June 2020 at Bomu Stadium, Mombasa. Itigo girls and Kapenguria Heroes walked away with Ksh. 100,000, with a host of individual prizes won by players who registered exemplary performances.
John Mwaura, Laiser Hill Academy Coach, had this to say, “This is our second attempt in the tournament. Last year we were knocked out in Kajiado and I thank God for giving us the win this year. Despite our opponents scoring first, I asked the boys to keep up the fighting spirit which earned us a goal to put us back into the game and finally took the day.”