Jipra defies odds to storm semis, Kitende unassailable

On seven previous appearances, Jinja Progressive Academy (Jipra) has huffed and puffed.

Since 2016, when they started participating in the school’s football competitions, they have finished four times in the quarters with last year’s painful exit after beating Amus College before they were eliminated for alleged use of an ineligible player, a turning point.

On Tuesday, the two-time Jinja champions turned the tide around beating Lira’s Mentor SS 1-0 to advance to the semifinals for the first time. Their supporters and technical bench jumped around following the historical achievement.

“I can now even retire from school football. For more than 10 years I had not taken this team to the semis,” Mike SSebaggala, the head coach of Jipra, said.

It was a tightly-contested game sealed by a history-making forward Richard Okello, who was the captain of the U17 team that qualified for the World Cup in Qatar.

With just five minutes to play, Okello latched onto a cross from the right to head into the net as Mentor players were preparing substitutions for the impending penalty shootout that was never to be.

“I expected a positive result because we have been playing at this stage without great success. We’re now preparing for the East African championships later this year,” Ssebaggala added.

A team with a talented attack led by Simon Achidi, who has four goals so far, is now destined for glory. Ali Mombwe Kitezaala, the Team Manager, said their focus has now shifted to winning the trophy.

“We can do it. We have been together and we had the belief that we’re among the top teams because many teams come to us to scout players,” he said.

Such players as Nicholas Mwere (Bul), Shafiq Kwikiriza (KCCA), James Jariekoh (NEC) and Frank Mulimi (Villa) have gone through the ranks at Jipra.

Jipra will now meet 12-time champions St Mary’s Kitende in today’s semifinals. Kitende, who are yet to concede a goal in this tournament, beat Kibuli 3-0 in the last game of the day.

A controversial penalty in the first half converted by Claude Wakenge opened the scoring before Arafat Nkoola and Denis Kisirikko finished the job.

Kitende coach Hassan Zungu applauded his players for standing tall against a team that created a lot of overloads in midfield.

“I know Jipra and we’re ready for that semifinal. I have been in Jinja and they are hard to beat but we shall progress to the semifinals,” he said.

In other games, two-time champions Buddo beat Uganda Martyrs High School Lubaga 1-0 while Bukedea Comprehensive endured a lengthy penalty shootout to eliminate debutants Kyaddondo.

Both teams were tied 1-1 in normal time and the story of the penalty shootouts was down to poor kicking which was ultimately undone by goalkeeper Ashirafu Lukyamuzi who missed the decisive kick to send Bukedea to their second consecutive semifinals.

“We have been in the semis before and we now we want to go a step better,” head coach Ronald Ssali, said.

USSSA Boys Football Championship

Quarterfinal results
Jipra 1-0 Mentor
Kyaddondo 1-1 Bukedea (Pens. 8-9)
Kitende 3-0 Kibuli
Buddo 1-0 Uganda Martyrs
Semifinals
Jipra vs Kitende
Bukedea vs Buddo