Jordan Tackett woke up Saturday feeling tired.
He had no presumption of greatest when he and his teammates went to the Viking Classic bowling tournament at Poelking Lanes South.
“I was not expecting to bowl a 300,” Tackett said.
In fact, Tackett believed he would NEVER bowl a perfect game.
But he did.
“The pins were definitely on my side that day,” said Tackett, a senior at WHS.
Tackett was on the viewing end of two 300s last season as teammates Elijah Martini and Grant Pickard attained bowling single game perfection.
“(That) made me want to know what the feeling would be like, that’s for sure,” said Tackett.
A bowler for three years, Tackett had a previous high game of 278. He had a strike in each of the first nine frames, then left a 10 pin in the 10th.
“The pressure gets to you for sure; my legs were shaking and my heart was pumping,” he said.
On Saturday, after warmups, Tackett and the Hurricane attacked the pins on lanes 37-38. Wilmington finished with a season best 1,077 pinfall count. For the entire tournament, Wilmington finished in first place among all teams participating.
But as the morning went on, Tackett took center stage.
“The first nine frames were all pocket shots, except one,” Tackett said.
In the 10th, Tackett, racked with nerves, remained confident he could finish with three strikes.
“I knew I could do it; I just needed to stay focused all the way,” he said.
The first two strikes in the 10th put Tackett on the brink of excellence.
“When I got to my last ball, I just took deep breaths and prayed and just kept telling myself that I could make history right here, right now,” Tackett said. “I blocked everything out that was around me and just went for it.”
