Asheville, NC

Houston fends of challenge from Columbia

By Beth Row

Columbia Quad Squad, the 10 seed, made a strong showing against 7 seed Houston Roller Derby in the first half of their matchup but the more experienced Houston team rallied in the second period and took advantage of a series of Columbia jammer penalties to take home the win.

“This was a great way to start out the weekend. We have a lot of games ahead of us, but it’s great to be able to come in and start it off with a win,” said Houston’s Syrenge.

David A Carter Photography

Death By Chocolate for Houston got out of the pack with the first lead jammer status, scoring 14 points on the first jam. Jam 3 had a slow start as the whistle blew and both teams hesitated. Mal Pacino got out for CQS lead jammer as Houston’s The Branimal got called to the box for a cut track penalty. Mal Pacino called it off when the score was 19-9, Houston and 25:24 left in the first half. Columbia placed veteran skater, Chucktown Bruiser on the line for the rest of the power jam.

Chucktown Bruiser was able to escape Houston’s defense and claim 10 points facing backwards on the track before Houston’s jammer came out of the penalty box. Chucktown called off the jam and pulled CQS within 1 point for 19-18 Houston lead with 24:06 left in the first.

With the score 33-18 in Houston’s favor, Syrenge was sent to the penalty box on a high block/blocking to the head. Mal Pacino, scoring points for CQS, went down hard on turn 4 and called off the jam. The CQS power jam continued with Poison Violet taking the star for the first time. Chucktown Bruiser cleared out the inside for her jammer and Poison jumped and juked her way to a 35-32 score just as Syrenge exited the box. Columbia began to pull to a solid lead after Houston’s Death by Chocolate was called to the box for a forearm major and Poison Violet racked up points for CQS, capping her run with an apex jump. CQS had the lead with 46-64 points.

Houston started to chip away at the CQS lead and got a break with a forearm major penalty on Chucktown Bruiser with 9:12 left in the half. Houston had pulled within 7 at the end of the jam with 8:04 left in the half. Once again Houston and CQS jammers traded track cut penalties, leaving Houston down 2 points with 4:35 left in the half.

The first half ended with an illegal star pass penalty on Mel Pacino, with the halftime score sitting at 86-76 in Houston’s favor.

The second half started with Mal Pacino in the box. Columbia’s Chucktown, Truckstop, and Holly Hunter were a tough defensive pack and were able to keep the power jam down to 90-76. But Mal Pacino was able to get lead jammer status coming from the box for CQS on the next jam and put up 5 points, bringing the score to 90-81. Houston was able to slowly build to a 112-89 when Columbia’s Poison Violet picked up a track cut penalty. The CQS defense kept Death by Chocolate to 5 points with Poison standing and 17:45 left in the game. But the penalty trouble would continue into the next jam for CQS as Poison Violet got called to the penalty box for a forearm.

When Death by Chocolate was called to the penalty box for a track cut a few jams later, CQS had the opportunity to put points up on the board. But Poison Violet was only able to collect 5 points before Death by Chocolate was out of the box.

The jammer penalties continued to be a theme through the end of the game with Posion Violet being called for a low block and then Chucktown Bruiser following right after her with the jammer star. Houston held the lead at 184-112 with under 4 minutes. The game ended with the CQS jammer heading to the box on the final jam and Houston’s Freight Train watching the final seconds run off the clock before calling the jam off. The final score was 197-116.

”We came into this bout not expecting to win or lose, but to show the world what CQS is made of,” said CQS blocker Truckstop. “We wanted to prove that we belong here. We want to win some games this weekend for sure, but we want to learn a lot and we have already learned a lot.”

Final Score

(7) Houston Roller Derby 197
(10) Columbia QuadSquad 116

Houston advances to play #1 Seed, Gotham Girls Roller Derby later in Day 1; Columbia moves to the consolation round and will play Nashville Rollergirls on Day 2.