Let’s not bury the lead here. The Dalton High School Catamounts boys soccer team is in a league all its own. Make that a universe all its own,  or maybe even a galaxy all its own.  The Catamounts are currently unbeaten in 2016  with a 9-0-1  record.  The team is on an incredible 75 game unbeaten streak,  and the team has won back to back to back state titles.   Add  to that, that at the end of last season the Catamounts were ranked number one in the nation by the national federation of soccer coaches and that they began the year proudly perched on top of the national rankings. 

Coach Matt Cheaves has been the head coach at Dalton High School for twenty-two years. He is proud of his team’s “three-peat”  as state champs and the challenge to “score four”  in 2016.

“Winning three in a row definitely gives the players confidence that they can get the job done, but it also adds pressure.  But this teams expectations are high,  we always want to play the best and to be challenged.”

With that in mind, this weekend the Catamounts are heading to the Smoky Mountain Invitational which will bring together 64 of the top teams in the nation.  On Friday Dalton will play the defending state champions from the state of Tennessee and on Saturday they will kick it with the defending champs from the state of Oklahoma.  This team ducks no one.

“This year’s team has sustained some injuries, but they are a self motivated crew, they are good students, and they want to play and beat the best.  They want to be the best.”

This year’s team has a lot of good senior leadership and some good talented younger players as well.

Isai Hernandez is a senior midfield and is the team’s leading scorer

Churrui Huitanda is a junior forward and is also one of the teams  premier goal scorers.

Leuri Fraire  is playing in goal and doing an outstanding job.

This year’s team has only given up 6 goals so far this season and 3 have come off penalty kicks. And with all this success, the student body and the community are really behind this team.

“The student body is really into the games, we have a lot of fan support and not just at home but our fans travel really well to support us,  we have just great fans”, says Coach Cheaves.

I asked the coach what it would mean to win four GHSA state titles in a row.

“That would be wonderful.  That is the goal we set at the start of the season and we play the toughest schedule we can so that when we get into the state tournament we are as prepared as possible”

When I asked about being ranked number one, not just in Class 5A  in Georgia, but in the entire nation, the coach took it in stride. “It is nice.  We are proud of it. But we just have to stay focused on the present and get the day to day things done.  The rest will take care of itself.  Maybe years from now I will sit back and think about all this, but right now, we are just too busy staying focused on the present”

Vince Lombardi could not have said it better.  So good luck to the Catamounts in this weekend’s big multi-state soccer shoot out, and as they go for four GHSA state titles in a row, and another top ranking in the national polls.