Stratford survives a target on its back, cruises past Paideia for third straight GHSA boys tennis title

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

            A year ago, a prediction was made about what would happen a year later.

            Then, Stratford head coach Jaime Kaplan and then-assistant Wade Thomas were given a prediction in the handshake line after the Eagles’ 3-2 win.

            “They walked up to Coach Wade Thomas and me, right after the match was over to shake our hands, and they said, ‘We’re going to beat you next year,’” Kaplan said of the Pythons’ coaches. “ ‘We aren’t losing anybody. … We’re going to have a much stronger team next year.’”

            Oh well.

            Stratford needed less than 90 minutes to prove the Eagles were pretty strong, too, taking down Paideia 3-0 at the DeKalb Tennis Center, less than 10 minutes from the Pythons’ campus, for the GHSA Class A Private boys state tennis title.

            The Eagles won their third straight title and ninth in 12 years. And under circumstances new to Kaplan and her troops.

            “I felt like I was at a college match,” Kaplan said. “It was the most hostile environment that our team has ever played in.”

            Kaplan estimated 50-70 Paideia students were in the crowd, with a strong backing of adults, and they were their to watch their team win.

            “They were very loud,” Kaplan said. “We have never had a situation (like that) as long as I have been teaching and coaching at Stratford. We have never had a crowd like that.”

            The fans cheered Stratford mistakes, and loudly questioned “out” calls by the Eagles, while cheering on the Pythons.

            “Extra kudos to my players, because they’ve never played in that sort of environment,” said Kaplan, now 401-57 at Stratford. “They really blocked it out out and didn’t let it bother them.

            “The best way to silence a crowd is to win.”

            Daniel Cohen got done first, beating Luca Davidorff 6-2, 6-1. Thomas Brewer finished next, topping Spencer Waterbury 6-2, 6-2.

            Samuel Barrow went from up 4-1 in the second set to 4-3, and let a 40-15 lead slip away only to pull that game out en route to a 6-2, 6-3 win.

            “(Daniel Sanz) wins that (break) point, and we’ve got a different ballgame,” Kaplan said. “That makes it 4-all. But I knew Samuel … had a couple loose game. I felt confident that Samuel was going to pull it out.”

            The Eagles finished 21-0, surviving the target all season. Kaplan didn’t forget the post-match conversation of a year earlier,

            “They were gunning for us,” she said. “Any time you win state, it becomes more difficult because you’ve got this bull’s eye on you, and they want you to lose.

            “Extra kudos to our players for winning under those circumstances.”