Dallas, TX

By Vile Love It

The #1 Seed Rose City Rollers (ranked #2 in the WFTDA) justified their rank and tournament seed to the entire state of Texas, including its opponent the #2 Seed Texas Rollergirls (#7), as well as the rest of the derby world when they took first place in the Dallas Division 1 WFTDA Playoffs.

The final game of the WFTDA Playoffs was between two teams that already had a lock of their ticket to Champs, but that did not stop either of those teams from fighting for every inch of the track. Texas and Rose didn’t focus on seeding at Champs when they lined up for each jam. They didn’t contemplate the history of coming into Champs as the winner of a WFTDA Playoff. They wanted to win. Period. Because these teams do everything they can to win any game they play.

It was that energy and commitment Rose City and Texas brought to every second of every jam that had fans across the world glued to their WFTDA.tv stream, Twitter feed or live audiocast.

In the first jam of the game, Rose City started their cycle of jammer penalties when Loren Mutch hit the box for a forearm penalty. But Rose City’s powerhouse defense, a star of the game, killed that penalty quick and Olivia Shootin’ John couldn’t breach their wall to collect a single point.

One of the keys to both teams’ success was in the offense. In the first half Rose City often started with a blocker on offense right at the whistle while Texas’ offense worked like a swarm of bees attacking its opponents. In the second period, the offense from both teams waned a bit, becoming somewhat less coordinated and successful.

These teams are top level teams; several of the skaters from both teams wear the dashing Team USA skates. A little offense isn’t always enough against a stellar defense.

Texas jammers Bloody Mary, Olivia Shootin’ John and Fifi Nomenon, intent on limiting jammer penalties, stuck to the middle of the track and pushed hard, but often fruitlessly, against the Rose City walls. Rose City’s jammer Scald Eagle with a combination of strength, speed and agility barreled through almost any wall and the whirling Texas defense could barely contain her.

Texas had somewhat better luck against Loren Mutch and LickerNSplit including an early jam in the first period when Texas blockers held LickerNSplit while Fifi Nomenon circled the track on a 20 point jam. Between that jam and the next, Texas pulled ahead for a 31-28 lead. It was their only lead of the game.

Unfortunately, sometimes the strength and agility of Rose City’s jammers cost them a jammer penalty (or, 14 to be exact). Texas’ jamming style of pushing straight up the middle lessened the track cut penalties particularly and they only caught 4 jammer penalties.

The difference was in Rose City’s penalty kill. Texas could only capitalize on a few of those power jams (85 points on the 14 power jams) whereas Rose City cleaned up during their jammer advantages (44 points on their 4 power jams). If Texas had been able to score with the same rate (points per power jam) as Rose City did, they would have been able to garner 150 points, instead of the 85 they skated away with.

Texas tried a variety of jammer combinations. Bloody Mary and Olivia Shootin’ John struggled in the first period and Texas gave OJ the pivot cover for the remainder of the game and she became one blocker who could stick to Scald Eagle and hold her up. Freight Train took a few stabs with the star but was only to pick up 4 points for her efforts. Texas brought out Hauss The Boss who was the team’s lead scorer with 86 points. Smarty Pants also donned the star towards the end in the effort to close the point gap but even she was unable to consistently breach the Rose City walls.

Toward the end of the first half Texas, capitalized as much as possible on a triple back-to-back power jam, (and then another one two jams later) to end the period with just a 16 point deficit.

Rose City was not to be outdone, and Scald Eagle came back in the second period with her characteristic slice and dice and was able to scatter and fracture the Texas defense while her blockers slowed and contained (for the most part) the Texas jammers. Scald Eagle earned 160 of the points scored by Rose City.

Texas tried pairing Fifi Nomenon with Scald Eagle but that didn’t seem to slow Scald Eagle down. In the second half they paired her with Hauss The Boss who seemed to have better success but in jam after jam, Rose City won lead jammer and shut Texas out of the scoreboard, or significantly limited the points earned.

Overall Texas played a cleaner game than Rose City only having 37 penalties overall compared to Rose City’s 49, but although it made a difference on the scoreboard, it didn’t have enough of an impact and Rose City swept away with first place in the Dallas Division 1 WFTDA Playoffs.

Watch both these teams back in action November 6-8 in Saint Paul, Minnesota for WFTDA Championship action.

Final Score

Rose City Rollers (#1) 257
Texas Rollergirls (#2) 223