Keta Senior High and Technical School (Ketasco) fought tooth and nail on Saturday before achieving a fifth consecutive semifinal qualification in the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ).

The Volta giants faced a determined St. Louis SHS who came prepared to cause an upset. Ghana National College also proved to be a force to reckon with.

All three schools went at each other right from the first bell and the Quiz Mistress, Prof. Kaufmann couldn’t help but congratulate them for their consistency after the first round.

However, the boys were separated from the men in the next round which was a game of fastest fingers. Ketasco ran the show and left an uphill task for their contenders.

But the St. Louis girls would not go down easy.

The next round, ‘Problem of Day’ required all three schools to answer one question and the girls from the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi achieved a perfect score while leaders Ketasco managed 8/10.  Ghana National at this point technically eliminated after scoring zero.

The next two rounds followed the trajectory set with St. Louis chasing Ketasco in a bid to upset the favourites. The True or False round where a wrong answer attracts a penalty point, proved to be the undoing of the girls who were impressive up that point.

In the end, it came down to who wanted it most, as Ketasco answered two out of the four riddles in the final round to seal their victory.

They become the fourth school to qualify to the semifinal after St. Peter’s SHS, Chemu SHS who upset St. Augustine’s College on Friday and defending champions Presec Legon.