By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
A TEAM of 18 Dandenong High school students are state soccer champions.
Winning 2-1 against Strathmore Secondary College, coach and teacher Garett Cree-Smith said his team of Year 9 and 10 students were a focused and talented bunch.
“A lot of the students play soccer together outside of school and some play at very high levels so they were coming in quite skilled,” Mr Cree-Smith said.
“But they still had to work as a team and they gave 100 per cent – we were actually up 2-nil most of the game, Strathmore scored their one goal with five minutes left.”
Not worried about losing the championship until the very last minute Mr Cree-Smith said he had a lot of help from experienced Year 12 soccer brains Shawkat and Mohammed who helped him coach.
“They did a great job with game plans – I was basically there to supervise,” he said.
A maths and science teacher, Mr Cree-Smith said winning the state championship meant a lot to the school.
“Dandenong High School hasn’t won anything at a state level for quite some time, it was good for the students to get a medal and a banner and that will stay up at the school,” he said.
The team played three different rounds to make it into the grand final which was played in Thornbury earlier this month.
