You probably might have head of the long standing rivalries between some of Ghana’s biggest and best schools at Ghana’s grandest high school basketball tournament- Sprite Ball Championship. Mfantsipim School’s loatheness for St. Augustine’s College is well documented as much as Prempeh College’s eternal strife with Opoku Ware School.
In the Greater Accra Region, Achimota School and Presbyterian Boys Senior High School (PRESEC-Legon) share a storied rivalry. Recent developments show a brewing rivalry between T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School and Kumasi Girls Senior High School with the latter getting the better of the two time national champions in the latest Ashanti Region qualifiers.
But none comes bigger and better than the Keta rivalry between Keta Senior High Technical School (KETASCO)and Keta Business College (KETABUSCO). Located in the thriving Keta district of Ghana’s Volta Region, both schools have had long battles for supremacy in practically everything. At the heart of the passionate and intense rivalry is the West African country’s fastest rising sport, basketball.
Between these two schools, a major chunk of appearances at the national games have gone their way as they have dominated the region’s basketball phase. Having won the national title in 2014 and appeared in four final appearances, KETASCO is by far the better side of the duo but that has not stopped this rivalry from becoming one of the most recognized and most respected rivalries.
KETABUSCO’s trail on its strong rival was reflected in Sprite Ball’s third edition as the side placed third in behind champions Armed Forces Senior High School and KETASCO. The school’s fortunes at the heralded tournament have fallen off since then as the side has failed to replicate such vaunted form in subsequent editions of the annual basketball fiesta which will be celebrating its tenth anniversary come January 2017.
Both schools have dominated basketball in the Volta Region for many years with the rest of the field falling behind. In 2009, both along with Kpando Technical Institute made it to Accra for the competition likewise in 2013 where the latter school failed to make it out of the region.
Unfortunately for KETABUSCO, its side failed to make the final four and crashed out of the tournament. This signaled the decline of Ketabusco as the side has failed to make the final roster two years running and has had to watch hitherto minnows like Sogakope Senior High School and Kadjebi Asato Senior High School make the grade. Ironically, one thing Ketabusco shares with its nemesis Ketasco is the abject performances of their female teams since Sprite Ball began in 2007. Ketabusco’s female side has yet to achieve the feat of its male counterpart as the side has consistently struggled to make it out of the Volta Region.
Falling behind the likes of Kadjebi-Asato’s female side, Mawuko Girls Senior High, Keta’s female side will have to dig deep to match their male side’s achievement. Since its creation in 1939, KETABUSCO’s rise has been unquestioned and like its motto “The End crowns the Work”, the sides immense work back to the top will be crowned.
