GRAY DEYOSports Writer

The Tullahoma High School bowling team is back in action, as they look to put together another impressive season following what they accomplished in 2024.

Last year, the boys’ bowling team won the district tournament while the girls finished as runner ups. Individually, out of both teams, the program had one player represent the school at the state tournament, Christiana Petty. The graduate from the class of 2025 made it to the quarter-finals of the state event, barely missing the cut to continue her track to a state championship. This season, head coach Derek Swiger is excited about the team’s potential and the season ahead.

“We are super excited for this year’s bowling team. Both boys and girls have a great opportunity to go far. We have a deeper team this year than we did last year due to several good freshmen coming up. “Get in the pocket, stay in the pocket.” That is what I tell my athletes before every match,” said Swiger.

So far this season, the boys’ team is 2-0, winning against Spring Hill High School and Franklin County High School.

Against Franklin County, Tullahoma won by a score of 2,490 pins to 1,922 pins. The players who highlighted the win for the Wildcats were senior Britton Perry and freshman Jensen Rogers. The two had the highest individual pin totals for Tullahoma in the match. Perry had a combined 443 pins, including the highest score in the match in the first game of two, where he had 249 pins. Rodgers had a combined 403 pins in the game, which included the highest score in game two of the match, where he struck 221 pins.

Against Spring Hill, it was a way more contested game. The Wildcats won by a score of 2,595 to 2,218 pins. Tullahoma gritted out this win and put up their highest combined team total in a single game thus far, recording 1,185 pins in game two. A couple of players who had big games were freshman JT Brooks and senior Jordyn Pilkington. Brooks had the team’s high score in the first set, posting a score of 202. In the match in both games, he had a combined score of 417. Pilkington helped close the door on the opposing Raiders having any shot in this match by recording the highest total of the set, recording a score of 227 in game two. In the match, he had 399 pins.

The immediate thing that jumps out about this squad is like coach Swiger said, they are deep. It is not one person carrying the team on their back in matches; it is a collective effort. There are multiple bowlers on this roster who are more than capable of posting big scores. Again, it is early on, but this team has already shown traces of being a great team.