By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com
 

          Early on, Jaime Kaplan was sweating a bit, and not just because of the heat.

          "The first half hour, it was tight," the Stratford boys tennis coach said. "We didn't know which way it would go.

          "It was close. That team was really good."

          Standout Mark Barrow was losing, Samuel Barrow was tied, and Daniel Cohen was down.

          Alas, the final match of Stratford's season went the way of every one before it, and that wasn't good news for Paideia.

          The Eagles progressed back to their normal levels with wins from Barrow and Samuel Barrow and the doubles team of Will Fackler and Thomas Brewer, and the result was a 3-1 win Saturday afternoon over the Pythons at Berry College in the GHSA Class A private boys championship.

          Bleckley County's girls repeated as the Class AA champ while the boys team lost 3-2 to Benedictine in its attempt to repeat.

          Taylor County's girls lost 3-2 to Trion in the Class A public girls championship.

          Stratford defended its title and finished 24-0 in the process.

          “I told people, ‘on paper, we should win, because we won last year and didn’t have any seniors in the starting lineup,’” Kaplan said. “But then you never know what other teams have.

          “To be 24-0, that was our goal. That meant we won the area tournament, and won the state tournament.”

          Kaplan said with a sigh that Paideia had no seniors. The Eagles only have two, but one is Barrow.

          He finishes 21-0 in singles this year, after going 19-0 last year. He departs with a 70-3 varsity record, which includes playing as an eighth-grader when Stratford was still in the GISA.

          Barrow, who will attend Georgia Tech but not play college tennis, won a doubles title, and then has been part of three GHSA titles and individual titles.

          “Becker O’Shaughnessy played in four individual tournament and four team championships, and he had eight state championships,” Kaplan said of the heralded former Eagle who went on to play at Alabama. “Mark Barrow is probably second to him as far as our most decorated tennis player.

“That’s pretty cool.”