Fort Wayne, IN

Rose City takes 5th place, Arch Rival ends in 6th place

By Whacks Poetic

The Rose City Rollers of Portland, Oregon, were knocked out of Championships contention in their first game against London this tournament but still had something to prove. They fought for fifth place today against the Arch Rival Roller Girls from St. Louis, Missouri. Rose City had come into the tournament ranked fifth and Arch Rival entered the tournament ranked third.

Rose City shortened their typical jammer bench from this tournament to Scald Eagle and Mutch Mayhem at the beginning of the bout and Arch Rival ran with their typical four-jammer rotation of Mighty Mighty Boston, South City Shiner, Brickyard and Smarty McFly. The packs were fast and often slimmer than a full four-on-four in the first half with both teams experiencing some trouble with blocker penalties. Both sets of blockers managed to skate a cleaner second half resulting in some amazing defensive and offensive hits.

(8) Cincinnati Rollergirls 95 v (7) Wasatch Roller Derby 275

The game began with Rose City and Arch Rival trading jams. Scald Eagle picked up lead and four points. South City Shiner tried to return the opening jam but only managed three points before Mutch Mayhem hit the back of the pack. Scald Eagle repeated her initial performance picking up another lead jammer call and another four points. Smarty McFly followed in South City Shiner’s footsteps picking up 3 points for Arch Rival. In jam six, Mutch Mayhem finally opened up the lead for Rose City putting up 24 points as the Rose City blockers kept South City Shiner in the pack for the entire two minutes. At the end of that jam, the score read 42-16. The point differential would remain within the 30-50 point range into the second half, with the Rose City Rollers leading 102-77 over Arch Rival at halftime.

The second half started with the two teams trading jams once more with Mighty Mighty Boston getting lead and 3 points in the first jam. Scald Eagle returned the favor with lead and 3 points of her own in the next jam. Mutch Mayhem was awarded lead but then was sent to the box on her first scoring pass, giving Brickyard a powerjam. After picking up 13 points, Brickyard received her own penalty, releasing Mutch Mayhem.

“This was my first tournament, my first year being an all star," Brickyard, Arch Rival jammer, said. "I think the biggest thing I learned was that this is so much more mental than it is a physical game. People come out here and throw everything they have on the floor. You learn how to be a team together. You learn how to grow as a person and as a team.”

The jam ended in Rose City’s favor 15-13. At this point, Rose City turned on the jets and began to pull away from their St. Louis competitors. Scald Eagle put up 13 points before Brickyard could score. Smarty McFly would then pick up a track cut in the next jam allowing Mutch Mayhem some solo jammer time on the track. Rose City would go on a 124-9 scoring streak including a 19-0 jam for Scald Eagle where she faced a full Arch Rival blocking contingent. In the final jam of the game, Arch Rival managed to show what they were capable of. JK Rolling, Rose City’s jammer, never made it out of the pack and South City Shiner added 5 points to her team’s score bringing the final to 259-107 in favor of Rose City and securing fifth place for the Portland team.

“My favorite part of this weekend was definitely today’s game," said Havana Good Time, Rose City Captain. "We needed this game to finish off our season strong. Everything worked. Everything came together. Our offense was on time. Our defensive walls were phenomenal. It was a team. It was our team. This is what we came to do today was to play our team, our game.”

Final Score

(5) Rose City Rollers 259
(3) Arch Rival Roller Girls 107