{"id":81969,"date":"2025-08-31T09:48:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T07:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=81969"},"modified":"2025-08-31T09:48:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T07:48:06","slug":"sacs-dream-team-ends-the-season-as-the-best-in-the-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=81969","title":{"rendered":"SACS “Dream Team” ends the season as the best in the land"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SACS
SACS concluded the 2025 season with an impressive 8-1 victory over Wynberg Boys’ High. Photo: AP \u2013 a_pieterse_photography<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The term \u201cgolden generation<\/strong>\u201d is often used in sports when a team performs well or achieves a rare feat.<\/p>\n

The actual meaning of the term, according to the Cambridge Dictionary<\/a><\/strong>, is a “group of skilful players of similar age who achieve success” or “players who are expected to succeed”.<\/p>\n

No matter how you interpret it, there is no doubt that the South African College High School<\/strong> (SACS)<\/strong> first-team hockey side of 2025 was exactly that, a golden generation.<\/p>\n

After years of dominating schoolboy hockey in South Africa, SACS entered the 2025 season<\/a><\/strong> intent on making a strong statement, focused on separating themselves from the chasing pack.<\/p>\n

Under the tutelage of coaches Sam Holmes <\/strong>and Jody Erasmus,<\/strong> and Director of Hockey James Peverley, t<\/strong>hey kicked off their campaign with an international tour to The Netherlands<\/strong> in March and made light work of their Dutch opponents, winning four and drawing one against some of the best age group club teams in the world.<\/p>\n

When they returned home, many hockey enthusiasts were eager to see what they had in store, and the boys in blue and white delivered a season-long highly entertaining show.<\/p>\n

Led by their talisman Jo le Roux<\/strong>, SACS went on an insane winning spree, which included claiming the coveted Hibbert Shield<\/a><\/strong> title in Gqeberha with a 6-2 win over Paarl Gimnasium<\/strong> in the final.<\/p>\n

They also beat Paul Roos Gimnasium<\/strong> three times in a calendar year. After edging out PRG in the semifinals of the Hibbert Shield in a penalty shootout, they registered 3-1<\/a><\/strong> and 5-2<\/a><\/strong> victories in May and July, respectively.<\/p>\n

The only bump along the way came in the form of a 2-2 draw against Paarl Gim<\/a><\/strong> in June, but other than that, they were unstoppable, and they scored goals by the bucketload.<\/p>\n

\"SACS
SACS maintained their unbeaten run against Wynberg Boys’ High. Photo: AP \u2013 a_pieterse_photography<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the third season running, they also did the double against their southern suburbs’ rivals, Bishops<\/strong>, Rondebosch Boys’ High<\/strong> and Wynberg Boys’ High<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

They dominated, scoring a whopping 43 goals while conceding only five times in those derby encounters.<\/p>\n

Their stayers’ team also ruled the roost at the Cape Town International Hockey Tournament<\/a><\/strong> and walked away with gold.<\/p>\n

Complacency could’ve crept in at any point, but they stayed calm and focused, delivering top performances week in and week out as they overwhelmed their opposition.<\/p>\n

There is no denying that Litha Kraai<\/a><\/strong> was the side’s star yet again, but SACS, this year, relied more on a combined team effort, with many players making their presence felt.<\/p>\n

Kraai, along with Le Roux, Reece Theunis<\/strong> and Mohlodi Maseko<\/strong>, grabbed the headlines, but there was more to the SACS side than those four players.<\/p>\n

Aidan Hughes<\/strong> had one of his best seasons, going about his business humbly and effectively every week.\u00a0Zach <\/strong>“Iniesta<\/strong>“ Redfern<\/strong> was also heavily involved, helping to pull the strings, and Matthew Lassen<\/strong> was more than just a defender, which he demonstrated when scoring a hat-trick against Wynberg.<\/p>\n

Other unsung heroes during the season included Adam Thompson<\/strong> and Reagan Wille<\/strong>, who often went under the radar due to the big names surrounding them.<\/p>\n

As for head coach Sam Holmes, he enjoyed every moment watching his side entertain on the turf.<\/p>\n

“\u201cI’m super impressed,” he told SuperSport Schools Plus<\/a><\/strong>. “It’s been a long season, a lot of pressure, and the guys have executed again and again and again. They’ve done it with absolute joy, a love for hockey, and a love for entertaining.<\/p>\n

“We are such a bizarre team. We can be very average for 25 minutes and then score three to four goals in three minutes. But overall, I’m very happy.”<\/p>\n

\"SACS
SACS skipper Jo le Roux scored in his final appearance for the school. Photo: AP \u2013 a_pieterse_photography<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In their final match of the season, SACS thumped Wynberg<\/strong> 8-1 at the Astro of Dreams<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Lassen, as mentioned above, netted three goals, while Le Roux, Maseko, Kraai, Wille, and Cameron Groves <\/strong>also struck.<\/p>\n

“Guys, like Litha, have obviously run the season and ran out in South African schoolboy hockey, provincial hockey, and even indoor men’s hockey,” Holmes said.<\/p>\n

“But it’s special to see that even after having superstars like him in a game where we scored eight goals, he scored only one. That means it was a positive team contribution from a ton of guys.”<\/p>\n

SACS will lose seven players heading into 2026, with Le Roux, Theunis, Redfern, Hughes, Thompson, Wille, and goalkeeper Lorenzo Virissimo<\/strong> set to leave the school.<\/p>\n

“You don’t always get to have the storybook ending, but I’m glad this group has got it,” Holmes said.<\/p>\n

“I have coached Jo le Roux, Aidan Hughes, Zach Redfern and Reece Theunis since 2021. They have set the standard for what training looks like.<\/p>\n

“They are always first at training and always doing extras. They have inspired a lot of people, and I’m glad that they and the other matrics have got the ending they deserve.<\/p>\n

“We haven\u2019t spoken a lot about it, but a guy like Lorenzo came up from the seconds, and he did his job unbelievably well and was a great part of this team.”<\/p>\n

\"SACS
Photo: AP \u2013 a_pieterse_photography<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Holmes described his side’s campaign as an “unbelievable season” and labelled his team as the best to ever do it.<\/p>\n

“Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the greatest schoolboy team ever,” he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have conquered Europe, and now they’ve conquered South Africa, and no one will ever take that away from them. So well done to them.”<\/p>\n

SACS stats in 2025: (Note*: These include the international tour to The Netherlands.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matches played<\/strong> \u2013 35
\nWon<\/strong> \u2013 33
\nDrew<\/strong> – 2
\nLost<\/strong> – 0
\nGoals for<\/strong> – 154
\nGoals against<\/strong> – 29
\nGoal difference<\/strong> – 125
\nWin percentage<\/strong> \u2013 96%<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The term \u201cgolden generation\u201d is often used in sports when a team performs well or achieves a rare feat. The actual meaning of the term, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is a “group of skilful players of similar age who achieve success” or “players who are expected to succeed”. No matter how you interpret it, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":81993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}