Evansville, IN

Jacksonville Mauls Ohio

by Ninja Sass'em

In Game 6 of the international WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs in Evansville, Indiana, the New Jax City Rollers of the Jacksonville Rollergirls from Jacksonville, Florida (seed #4, rank #14) halted the Ohio All-Stars of the Ohio Roller Girls from Columbus, Ohio (seed #5, rank #20) dead in their tracks with a final score 260-165.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

Jacksonville took off like a rocket and by the fifth jam, they had already tripled Ohio's jammer output with a score of 64-23.

Jam 9 gave Ohio the perfect opportunity to start their comeback. ha Ha HAze*ly was boxed with double penalties: first a cut and then an insubordination, for failing to leave the track. Ohio's Lora "Outta My" Wayman, had a full minute to push Ohio's score ahead.

Several 0-0 jams stagnated the score when both jammers would escape the pack almost simultaneously.

Rather then the slow grinding packs that we had seen so often throughout the day, the Jacksonville blockers pushed the pack speed up to a quick clip. Jacksonville capitalized on their incredibly fast jammers, including speed skater Erin Jackson, and apex-jumper Jamsterella to continue to push the score up to 124-63 by halftime.

New Jax's Haze*ly had already earned 4 penalties by halftime and Fancy Schmancy was also sitting on 5 penalties. Even with double the points versus Ohio, the Jacksonville girls resided far more frequently than they would have liked in the penalty box.

"We were working with a different jammer rotation and were a bit out of our comfort zone," explained Jacksonville's Meow Mix. "I think our blockers were aware of that and maybe playing a bit looser and more aggressive then normal."

Ohio rallied their entire team and showed renewed energy in the second half as they doubled their first half score by the 13:00 minute mark while holding Jacksonville to multiple zero-point jams.

But Wayman's unfortunately timed forearm penalty while jamming against Jacksonville's highest scorer, Erin Jackson, allowed 23 points to push New Jax up to 211-125.

The Florida girls seemed to regain their legs in the following jam versus Ohio's Burnadeath. Blockers Meow Mix, Eirinn Go Brawl, and Kat Von recycled her mercilessly, holding her scoreless for the entire jam.

The Ohio comeback started losing steam after several jammer penalties allowed Jacksonville to pull ahead even further by almost 100 points.

At the five minute mark, Ohio's The Smactivist got boxed on a track cut after New Jax pivot Noam Bombsky bumped her slightly inside. Erin Jackson went to work, throwing up 19 points and calling it before The Smacktivist could score.

Ava Tarr, Kitty Liquorbottom, and Ena Flash stuck tightly on the Jacksonville jammer, ha Ha Haze*ly, at the 2 minute mark to allow Wayman a power jam that drove the Ohio score up another 18 points.

In the final jam, The Smacktivist and Jamsterella traded penalties to end the game on a 2-minute bulldog. When the dust settled, the leopard-clad Floridians came away with the win, 260-165.

Jacksonville moves on to play #1 seed London Brawling tomorrow at 2pm while Ohio will play Steel City at 10am in the consolation bracket.

Final Score

(4) Jacksonville Rollergirls 260
(5) Ohio Roller Girls 165