Kalamazoo, MI

Sac City sacks Killamazoo

By Vile Love It

Saturday’s headline bout between the hometown Killamazoo Derby Darlins’ (seed 3, ranked 46) and the Sac City Rollers (seed 2, ranked 45) from Sacramento, California, was filled with excited fans yelling their signature “Kill! Kill! Kill!” and a lot of power jams.

As a matter of fact, in the first jam, Sac City’s jammer Too Short (#1979) headed there and Killamazoo’s Doobie Trap (#1313) collected 15 points, giving her team the early lead. Not much later, the Sac City blockers locked down Killamazoo’s jammer and with only two Killamazoo blockers on the track, Sac City let a full two-minute jam run out and collected 23 points putting them in the lead.

But Killamazoo didn’t waste any time in giving the same thing back to Sac City. In a similar situation (Sac City down two blockers) Killamazoo’s Jessie Girl (#89) picked up 23 points. Killamazoo was back in the lead.

The first half was filled with back-and-forth lead changes. Sac City’s La Lucha (#5) caught a power jam mid-way through the first period and pulled her team even, and then ahead, before Killamazoo’s Doobie Trap was released from the block. Score was: 57-50.

But Killamazoo battled back and, with 12 minutes left in the half, pulled ahead again (72-65).

With 5 minutes left in the first half, Killamazoo held tight to the lead 101-87, only to give it up in the next-to-last jam of the half when Jessie Girl hit the box and Sac City’s La Lucha sails around the track to bring her team even and then ahead.

At the half it was 123-105 with Sac City in the lead.

The first half and second half of this bout were significantly different. The differential in power jams made a huge impact on Killamazoo’s ability to stay close to Sac City. Killamazoo gave up six power jams in the second half (5 in the first). Sac City was no stranger to jammer penalties in the first half (they had 4) but was able to lock it down in the second (they only had 1). Killamazoo’s blockers were not able to contain Sac City’s jammers during the power jams, and Sac City was able to pull significantly ahead of the hometown team.

Sac City started on back-to-back power jams and grabbed 30 points. It would set the tone for the rest of the period. It seemed that every time Killamazoo would get an advantage, either pack or jammer, they would be foiled by penalties.

As the period wore on, Killamazoo looked scattered and fatigued and had trouble putting out a coordinated offense or defense. But it certainly didn’t limit the exuberance of the crowd or the fight of all of the Killamazoo players.

"We really wanted to bring home another win in our house so we can't help but be disappointed in our loss tonight. It was a hard-fought battle, but in the end Sac City had a great game," said Killamazoo’s Slamador Dali. "With the support of our fans, we will recoup and come back to play Sunday for third place. We feel like it’s a very respectable place for our first tournament appearance."

In the end, Sac City controlled the second period and was able to win with a significant lead and head on to compete against Santa Cruz for first and second place.

“It was a little tight in the first period. When we went into the second period we had set our minds to be more proactive and more engaging in the pack,” said Sac City’s La Lucha. “We also decided to get to the line first. We are excited about playing Santa Cruz tomorrow. We have played them many times and it’s always a good game.”

Final score

(2) Sac City Rollers 283
(3) Killamazoo Derby Darlins 173