They finished the contest with just 22 points, ahead of Lassia Tuolu SHS and Wa Senior High Technical School, who ended with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Despite the victory, the atmosphere in the Xavieran camp was far from celebratory.

Both contestants and supporters expressed clear disappointment with the low score, describing the performance as underwhelming given the school’s national pedigree.

“We are happy we made it through, but we are disappointed with the performance; we were expecting at least 40 points at the end of the contest. We will go back, regroup, and return, hoping to make a bigger impact at the nationals,” Walter Kpankpari, a contestant, said.

Once hailed as giants from the north after their impressive runs to the finals in 2012 and in 2014, St. Francis Xavier has in recent years struggled to replicate that dominance on the national stage.

Their recent performances have seen early exits, with their best performance in the last 10 years being the quarterfinals.

The team is now looking ahead to the national championship in October, hoping to rekindle their glory days and push further into the competition.

Source: Collins Frimpong

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In a dramatic contest for academic supremacy, the school beat their city rivals, Tamale SHS and Upper West’s St. Francis Xavier Seminary to clinch the ultimate title.

The atmosphere at the GNAT Hall in Tamale was characterised by sheer rivalry between the two Tamale-based schools boasting to be the overlords of the north.

The two schools had met in the semi-final stage where Tamale SHS handed GHANASCO a painful defeat.

But qualifying as the top runner-up from the semi-finals, GHANASCO was determined to revenge their nemesis at the grand finale.

The final contest proved to be a tough one for the lions of TAMASCO as they failed to keep up with the comfortable pace they had begun with at the beginning of the contest.

Consumed by a fervent desire to win and make history, the boys from GHANASCO looked unperturbed when they trailed Tamale SHS at the end of the first round with a four-point difference.

The school overturned the contest in the second round to lead with 6 points while TAMASCO and Xavescan were pegged at 23-points each.

St. Francis Xavier kept its margin between the GHANASCO but contrary to the brave speed of their totem (lions), TAMASCO barely could keep up with the momentum of the two schools.

Tamale SHS ended the third round with 24 points, as their contenders, Ghana SHS and St. Francis Xavier, accrued 42 and 36 points respectively.

At this point, the TAMASCANS were troubled and had already given up on their quest for a second trophy.

In the final round, the school however managed to answer two of the riddles correctly but that couldn’t garner them enough points to close the margin.

Wild cheers erupted within the four walls of the GNAT Hall in Tamale after GHANASCO answered a riddle to extend their lead affirming their stance to be the winners of the contest.

At the end of the contest, Ghana SHS secured 45 points while St. Francis Xavier Seminary came second with 36 points with Tamale SHS taking the third position with 30 points.

GHANASCO commenced their journey to the trophy from the regional qualifiers stage after they were knocked out at the one-eighth stage in 2023 of the national competition.

They are optimistic of an even masterful performance at the national tournament as they set out to become the debut national winners for the five Northern regions.

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