Boardman bowlers sweep Tournament

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Neighbors | Submitted.The Boardman boys and girls bowling teams participated in the Stonehedge Holiday Bowling Tournament in Akron. During the tournament, Nick Tancabel shot a perfect 300. Pictured are, from left, (front) Gloria Hynes, Alexis Grim, Taylor Krepps, Breanna Kereluik, Myranda Bukovinsky; (back) Coach Brian Umstead, Nick Tancabel, Nick Christmas, Coach Al Dohar, Kevin Hynes, Jason Babnic, Jake Wagner and Coach Justine Cullen.

On Dec 26, the Boardman boys and girls bowling teams competed in the Stonehedge Holiday Bowling Tournament in Akron. Nick Tancabel highlighted Boardman’s tournament victory with his first career 300 game.

Boardman’s varsity boys bowling team led the Stonehedge Lanes tournament from wire to wire. In game one, the Spartans rolled the tournament’s high game of 1103, led by Nick Christmas’ 245 and Jason Babnic’s 239.

Game two started with as loud of a bang as game one with one exception, Nick Tancabel went on a striking streak. The buzz in the crowd became more intense as Tancabel entered the 10th frame. As Tancabel took to the approach, the crowd became silent allowing him to concentrate. Tancabel went on to accomplish every bowler’s ultimate goal - a score of 300.

“The nerves were there, but I knew the guys were behind me.” said Tancabel. “I knew I threw a good final shot and I just prayed all 10 fell. Having the entire place cheer and clap for me was definitely a moment I will never forget. I did it for my teammates and the great fans of Boardman, especially my mother who was there to witness it.”

After the qualifying round of three games and five baker games, Boardman remained in first place. The tournament format called for the top eight teams to advance to the championship round, bowling best of five baker series in a bracket style format.

In the first round, Boardman fell behind two games to zero against the Jackson Polar Bears; Boardman recovered and swept the next three games to advance to the next round. In round 2, the Spartans faced Woodridge High School. This series went back and forth until game five, when once again the Spartans prevailed. The championship round saw Struthers High School battle the Spartans. The Spartans topped the Wild Cats 3-1 to take the tournament crown.

On the girl’s side, at the end of the qualifying round, the Lady Spartans found themselves tied for eighth-place, forcing a tie-breaker roll off. Boardman’s Alexis Grim was assigned the task of going one on one with Tallmadge’s anchor bowler in a ninth and 10th frame roll off, with the winner advancing on to the championship round. After watching Tallmadge’s bowler throw a strike, Alexis scored a nine spare in the ninth frame. The tenth frame proved to be Alexis’ time as she threw a strike to put pressure on Tallmadge. Tallmadge’s anchor rolled a split in the 10th; Alexis then followed with a spare to complete the victory.

The victory placed Boardman into the eighth seed of the championship round. Boardman’s first order of business was to eliminate the number one seed, Ellett. They accomplished this in five games. Moving on to round two, Boardman defeated Perry in four games. After two hard fought victories, Boardman quickly found themselves down 0-2 against Wadsworth.

In game three, Boardman topped Wadsworth; along the way continuing to believe that they could win the tournament. Game four began with Boardman jumping out to a commanding lead; winning to force a game five. In game five Boardman closed out the victory by marking in each of the last four frames.