Some people enjoy the sport of bowling for a lifetime and never accomplish the feat executed recently by Miami Trace High School sophomore Jake Manbevers.
It happened during a Frontier Athletic Conference match between the Panthers and the Chillicothe Cavaliers Thursday, Dec. 2 at LeElla Lanes.
Manbevers had already bowled a very respectable 263 game, which he began with seven strikes in a row.
For his next game, Manbevers bowled 12 strikes in a row for a perfect game score of 300.
“I had shot one prior 300 (game),” Manbevers said. “But, never in high school. This was my first in high school.”
What is the feeling when you are an athlete in the middle of something like this?
“I was extremely nervous on that last shot,” Manbevers said.
How far along did he go before realizing there might be some magic in the air?
“It’s best not to think about it,” Manbevers said. “In the first game, when I shot the 263, I had the front seven (seven strikes in a row). I kind of thought about it a little bit and I made a mistake.
“In the second game, I really didn’t think about it until it was over,” Manbevers said. “I just focused on the next shot I had to throw. That helped keep my concentration to bowl a 300.
“Other people were definitely aware,” Manbevers said. “I could hear them talking about it. I was just trying to block it out so I could focus and throw my next shot.”
His perfect game was bowled on lanes number five and six.
Manbevers is the second Miami Trace boy to bowl a perfect game since the program was established. The first one was Kaleb Taylor.
“Kaleb bowled his in the District tournament several years ago,” coach Ron Amore Sr. said.
“People don’t realize what it takes,” Amore Sr. said. “It takes a lot of concentration. As he said, when he got the first seven in the first game, he got a little excited and that’s what happened there.
“When he got to the second game, he calmed down a little bit,” Amore Sr. said. “Jake’s a good bowler. He’s a good leader for the team. A lot of the other players respect him.”
