MANCHESTER – He might have been in the Division III boys’ tennis final, but Gilford’s Grant Workman was the picture of relaxed. He played in his sweat pants and sweatshirt, sunglasses perched on his head.

But beneath the shades, inside Workman’s head, Tuesday’s high stakes had left a mark. Gilford’s winning streak, the one that goes back five years, was on the line, along with the D-III crown.

“When we were coming into this everyone was a little bit nervous,” Workman said. “We thought we were going to win, but it’s a little bit scary having won 83 games.”

The Golden Eagles overcame the pressure, and No. 3 Bow (14-3), to claim a 6-3 decision that pushed their winning streak to 84 and their title streak to five.

“What made this one special for me? The fact that we didn’t lose at all,” said Workman, Gilford’s No. 1 and a four-year varsity player. “Made it all the way through, four years.”

Even if Workman was feeling some pressure, his poised demeanor set a positive example for the rest of the Eagles (17-0), which was nothing new.

“Grant will never panic, even if he falls behind, and he hasn’t fallen behind too often this year, but he sets a very quiet, positive tone and the kids certainly recognize that,” said Terry Wilson, who has now won seven titles in his 16 years as Gilford’s head coach. “And Connor Craigie, the other senior co-captain, is similar. He’s not a rah-rah guy. They lead by example. They keep their cool.”

Workman’s tone-setting usually includes a win at No. 1, and it was no different on Tuesday as he beat Bow’s Brayden Binder, 8-1. But that match was closer than the score looked, and this time it was junior Christian Workman, Grant’s cousin, who delivered Gilford’s first point of the day with an 8-2 win at No. 2 against Evan Alfano.

“Normally Grant is the first off the court, but this time I was like, ‘Yes,’” Christian Workman said.

He focused on keeping the ball in play and letting the point, and match, come to him. That was the message Wilson gave to his entire team on the bus ride from Gilford to The Derryfield School, but no one took it to heart more than the younger Workman.

“I thought Christian had been pressing a little bit recently, and today I thought he responded perfectly,” Wilson said. “He was within himself, he hit quality shots and he constructed the points.”

The wins from the Workmans gave Gilford a 2-0 lead, and it wasn’t long before Craigie made it 3-0 with an 8-4 decision against Bow’s Mike Mullen. Craigie jumped out to a 4-1 advantage using a mix of spins and attacking the net at all costs. Mullen used the same tactics to pull within 5-3 before the Gilford senior took control late.

Alden Blais gave the Eagles their fourth singles point with a steady 8-4 win at No. 6 over Zach Mullen. Bow finally got one back with an 8-5 win at No. 3 from Caleb Olson over Tyler Hanf. Olson is in just his first year of competitive tennis, but he finished the singles season undefeated playing at No. 4 and 3.

“When we go down through the matches and try to see where the wins are going to come from, Caleb is a guy you pencil in,” Bow Coach Drew Groves said. “No disrespect to any of the other guys, but Caleb is just a steady player and he’s got good control of his emotions.”

Still, the Falcons were on the edge of losing, and Gilford’s Kyle Davies pushed them over it with an 8-4 win at No. 5. Bow’s Dillon D’Allesandro held a 4-3 lead, but Davies (one of four seniors in the Eagles’ top six along with Blais, Craigie and Grant Workman) found his footing to take a commanding lead and then clinched the title with a quintessential Gilford point.

Asked to describe his team, Wilson said, “They listen very well, they work very hard and ... they’re tremendous at getting to the ball, they make their opponent hit one more shot.”

On the championship point, Bow’s D’Allesandro hit the net cord and the ball trickled. A lot of players would have let it go, but not Davies. He chased down that ball, and another, and eventually forced D’Allesandro into an error that sealed another title and extended the winning streak another year.

The Falcons did take two of the three doubles matches as Binder and Alfano won at first doubles, 8-4, and the Mullens pulled out a 9-8 (7-3) win at third doubles.

“It was a wonderful year. I love this team,” Groves said. “I’m excited to see a lot of these guys back next year (Alfano and Mike Mullen are the only two seniors on the roster). Now we’ve got some good experience behind us and we’ll see what happens.”

Experience definitely matters, just ask the Golden Eagles.

“I think being here before helped us,” said Christian Workman, who teamed with Hanf for an 8-5 win at second doubles. “There was some pressure because of our winning streak, but we all knew we had to focus and bear down, and we all pulled through.”