BY MATT STOUT

Reflecting on the best season in Goffstown boys tennis history, Grizzlies coach Tom Meighan couldn’t help but think back to March, when nothing but snow covered the area’s tennis courts.

It was then Goffstown made its push toward the upper echelon of Class L.

Allowed to use the indoor courts at the town’s YMCA throughout the early part of the season, the Grizzlies had an advantage over many of their opponents.

They didn’t waste it.

Goffstown opened the regular season with six straight victories, ended it with four more in a row and, after coming back from several deficits to upend Manchester Central, 5-4, in the state tournament quarterfinals on Friday, May 25, continued the magical ride that was its 2007 season.

“A lot of teams are looking out the window (at the start of the year), doing nothing,” Meighan said. “We were just slapping everyone around at the beginning of the season, and we got some momentum going. And then we got some really hard teams, we had the confidence to beat them. That’s kind of how our season seemed to go.”

Although the Grizzlies’ season came to an end in a 7-2 loss  to Concord in the Class L semifinals on Saturday, May 26 – it was the third straight time the Tide bounced Goffstown from the playoffs – it did little to sour the year.

Seniors Greg Meighan, Zach Morris and Jon Reilly all finished their careers as huge parts of the team’s resurgence. Nate Lafond didn’t lose a singles match all season, and he, along with Conner Western, Alex Stoyle and Martin Bouroncle, return to a squad with high expectations for 2008.

Victories like the one over Central will do that. Down, 3-1, in singles, Morris and Bouroncle both rallied for 8-6 wins to force a tie entering doubles. Once there, Central again jumped ahead with a win at No. 3, but Morris and Stoyle won seven straight games to erase a 6-1 deficit at No. 2, and Meighan and Lafond dominated in an 8-3 win to seal the match.

“That was the biggest,” Morris said when asked to compare the win to any this year.

It was also the most unexpected.

“I had no idea we’d be this good,” Meighan said. “They’re good athletes, and they have a lot of enthusiasm, but I just didn’t know if they were going to be able to hold their own. And boy, they sure did.”