Owass- the pinnacle of home support

If you ever doubted what massive home support can do to a team, then you should have been at the Opoku Ware School (Owass) to witness what many have described as the ‘best supporting’ school in the prestigious Sprite Ball Championship.

Hundreds of fans gathered at the Santasi –based school to offer their unwavering support to Owass who were bent on winning the championship for the first time. And how amazing it was as they displayed sheer chanting and singing to inspire their side to success.

It was simply a scene of great de ja vu feeling and the ‘Akatakyie’ lads paid their loyal supporters by landing the most prestigious championship in the Ashanti region at the expense of bitter rivals Prempeh College in the finals.

Students of Opoku Ware undoubtedly have inched their name in gold plate and certainly earned the tag as the school with the huge spirit to motivate a side to victory on any given day.

One would say their semi-final victory over Nkawie was expected but after they set up the final meeting with Prempeh College, the expectations of both sides heightened. To both schools, it would have meant more to them than winning the title- the issue of who will have the last laugh and the bragging right was as equally important as lifting the trophy for the first time.

The atmosphere was thrilling and mind-blowing as fans of both sides sang their school anthem to serve as a source of inspiration. Clearly one thing was certain to happen and that’s the fact that a winner had to be declared but the mind boggling question was which of the two schools will lift the coveted trophy.

Preempeh College have had the better part of their rivals in previous meetings and therefore revenge was top on the minds of head coach Charles Darkwah  and the players who were determined to halt their unimpressive performance against the rivals.

And so they did and in an amazing fashion as well as the displayed sheer brilliance and power play to power past Prempeh 19-15.

Don’t be deceived by the score line. It was an end to end action and the fighting spirit of Prempeh cannot go unnoticed as they gave their host a good run for their money in an action-packed contest.

At least the young ballers from ‘Amanfo’ will take delight and consolation in the fact that they’ll get another shot at the title next month when the National event takes place in Ghana’s capital, Accra. They’ve been there before and should be aware of the intricacies that always characterize the grand-finale where the best from the eight regions will gather on one platform to outdo each other.

It will almost be safe to say that Prempeh did extremely well but crumbled under the vociferous home support of Owass.

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