By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          It wasn’t a particularly warm day, but Mt. Paran and Wesleyan made sure that FPD and Stratford had to sweat.

          Championship-like comebacks led to championships.

          FPD’s girls and Stratford’s boys worked hard to protect perfect seasons, and both grinded their ways to the GHSA Class A Private girls and boys state tennis championships Saturday at the Rome Tennis Center.

          The Vikings got extra time to celebrate Saturday morning’s 3-2 win over Mt. Paran for their first GHSA tennis title, and the Eagles had to wait until just after lunch to gut out a 3-1 win over Wesleyan.

          FPD needed every player and every point to hold off Mt. Paran. No. 3 singles Natalie Griffin rolled through her first set 6-0, but lost all that momentum, and the second set, 4-6.

          She was down 4-3 in the final set, but the sophomore regrouped in a big way to win 6-4 and finish 18-0 herself and clinch the Vikings’ season at 18-0 and as state champs.

          The Vikings wins came in doubles, with both teams – McKenzie Gleaton/Savannah Terrell and Kiya Israel/Abby Gayle Moody – racking up perfect 6-0, 6-0 wins.

          Stratford has had to make some late-season lineup tweaks that left the Eagles less experienced than usual, but it didn’t matter.

          Freshman Cam Douthit rolled to a pair of 6-0 wins for Stratford’s first point, No. 2 doubles Jude Burgess and Liam Fickling won the first set, as did Thomas Brewer at No. 1 singles, while No. 1 doubles Ayush Patel and Ishaan Narsinghani were in a big battle.

          “We’re looking really good,” head coach Jaime Kaplan said. “Next thing I know …”

          Patel and Narsinghani ended up losing their match 6-3, 6-4, and Will Fackler was down 3-0 in the second set after winning the first 6-0. Brewer is having a rough day, in the middle of losing the second set 6-2, and Burgess and Fickling lose their second set.

          Kaplan went over to talk to Fackler, who assured her all was well. Even down 3-0.

          “He’s like, ‘Coach, I got this, I’m going to win the next six games,’” Kaplan said. “And he did.”

          That put the Eagles up 2-1, with Brewer heading into a third set with little momentum, amid one of the very rare matches during his 61-0 varsity run.

          Brewer went down 2-0 and 3-1 and 4-2, and then 4-3.

          “You could see the momentum was with the other guy,” Kaplan said. “Thomas, it just wasn’t his best high school tennis match.”

          But it was perhaps his most clutch tennis match, Brewer grinding to three more wins, breaking serve at love to clinch the championship.

          The third set in the No. 2 doubles – with two “rookies” as Kaplan said - was tied at 3 when Brewer finished it.

          “It was definitely a nailbiter,” Kaplan said. “Wow.”

          The Vikings and Eagles were certainly favorite about 15 months ago when the season started, only to be wiped out by COVID-19. And they’ll be favorites again next year, the Vikings graduating Kennedi Jones, Gleaton, and Terrell, and Eagles losing Brewer and Fackler, from Saturday’s action.