Evansville, IN

by Ninja Sass'em

In Game 5 of the international WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs in Evansville, Indiana, the Texecutioners of the Texas Rollergirls from Austin, Texas (seed #2, rank #6) used stop-and-drop recycling to end the year-long winning streak of the Tent City Terrors of Arizona Roller Derby from Phoenix, Arizona (seed #10, rank #39) with a final score of 521-125.

Photo by Steve Jurkovic

Texas started the bout with two hit-it-and-quit-it jams by Olivia Shootin' John (#03) and Hauss the Boss (#55) to put up a 8-0 score. Although it looked to be setting the pace of the game, Texas showed in jam 3 that they weren't afraid to give up a few points when their own jammer was on a roll. Texas' Smarty Pants (#5) threw up 28 points of her own while allowing Pushy Tushy to put up AZRD's first 4 after returning from a track-cut penalty.

It was jam 5 before Luz Chaos (#924) secured AZRD's first lead jam of the game and she put up a 27-point blast on Hauss the Boss (#55) who was held to only 8 points behind a reinvigorated AZRD wall.

Texas would go back to work obtaining 5 lead jammer calls in a row and holding AZRD to just 23 points through jam 10.

In Jams 11 and 12, AZRD looked to break up the Texas scoring onslaught as Luz again grabbed lead over Haus and then Atomatrix (#03) took the lead for AZRD in the following jam.

A forearm call against Atomatrix in jam 17 and a cut call against Pushy Tushy (#140) in jam 18 kept AZRD from trying to catch the runaway Texas team.

Meanwhile the decimating Texas jammer rotation of OJ, Hauss, and Smarty kept pounding the Arizona defense.

Score at halftime had the Texies leading 276-65.

Texas kept their foot on the gas and their teammates on the track as they stayed relatively clean and out of the penalty box while going on a scoring blitz during the second half.

In jam 10 of the second half, a failed star pass from AZRD's Luz to Deja Deja Vu (#1111) where Deja grabbed the star from the ground and then burst from the pack created quite the debacle. The refs signaled that she had earned an illegal procedure penalty and she was sent to the box. In the confusion, she sat in the jammer spot of the penalty box and a subsequent failed official review from AZRD did not overturn the penalty but did move Deja to the blocker penalty seat and allow AZRD to field a jammer in the next jam.

The diamond-style Texas blocking, a whirling tornado of jammer destruction, kept up their merciless decimation of the AZRD jammers. Small flashes of brilliance by AZRD blockers including Cannibelle Corpse (#3), Ginger Reeking Havoc (#9), and Hface Killa (#789), along with the fancy footwork of Luz and speed of Atomatrix, were not enough to slay the Texas giant.

"It wasn't just the Texas jammers who were difficult to stop; it was the synchronicity of their entire pack. They move as a unit," explained Arizona's Toaster (#1208).

Penalties continued to plague AZRD, especially their jammers who earned 13 box trips overall to Texas' 2.

The final jam of the game was no exception as AZRD's Loca Lena (#5150) was boxed on a track cut while Fifi Nomenon (#108), earning lead jammer, ran out the jam clock to end the game 521-125.

Texas goes on to the semifinals where they will face Windy City (seed #3, rank #11) while Arizona will meet the winner of Houston (seed #8, rank #36)/Toronto (seed #6, rank #23) in the consolation bracket.