Central Catholic’s Smith is Coach of the Year
Jared Smith served as an assistant to Jeff Biro before taking over as head coach of the Central Catholic boys tennis team this past spring.
Biro taught his successor quite a bit in the years they coached together, which prepared Smith for a wildly successful first year with the Vikings.
Although Central was barely above .500 in an always-loaded Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, the Vikings saved their best stuff for the team postseason. A District 11 Class 2A semifinal win over 11-time defending champion and top-seeded Moravian Academy catapulted Central into the finals.
In the gold medal match, Smith kept his team composed and mentally prepared against second-seeded Blue Mountain. The Vikings would go on to win 3-0 and capture their first-ever boys tennis district title.
For guiding Central to new heights, Smith is The Morning Call Boys Tennis Coach of the Year.
“I’ve helped coach Biro the past few years and we’ve come so close time after time but always seem to lose to Moravian Academy,” Smith said. “It meant a lot to get through the finish line. I could not be happier for the guys getting over the hump and winning a district title. If it wasn’t for coach Biro, we would not have accomplished what we did.”
Jesse Coulter, Tim Spinosa and Dylan Alvarez led the Vikings’ singles lineup while Charlie Long, Jake Zeller, Dan Patruno and Alessio Flores comprised the doubles teams.
Coulter was a district singles semifinalist, then teamed with Spinosa to win gold in doubles. The pair advanced to the state quarterfinals before all was said and done.
While the Vikings lose some important players to graduation, they will still remain in the postseason hunt.
“We certainly would not have gotten to where we did without the leadership of Jesse Coulter and Dylan Alvarez. I can’t credit them enough; they’re the heart and soul of the team,” Smith said. “Tim Spinosa clinched the district team title for us and there is a bright future for him. We also have a strong senior class coming up and quite a few freshmen that helped out last year as well.”
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