Jacksonville, FL

By Lexistential Crisis

The final day of the 2015 International WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs Jacksonville began with Glasgow, Scotland’s Glasgow Roller Derby (Seed 7) earning a decisive win over the Pikes Peak Derby Dames (Seed 9) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. Glasgow had a close loss to Charlottesville on Friday, and on Saturday they lost by 184 points to Tampa, the highest ranked team they have played. This weekend was Glasgow’s first time at Playoffs, and Pikes Peak’s first time since Western Regionals in 2009. Both teams played strong in the first half, but Glasgow controlled the entire second half to win by 94 points and earn 9th Place.

Photo by Ryan Quick

Pikes Peak’s Trick Pony and srs biznis scored the first seven points of the game in the first two jams. Glasgow put their first points on the board in the third jam when Sarah McMillan scored 10 points. Pikes Peak took the lead back in the 6th jam after Rogue Runner received a cutting penalty on her initial pass. srs biznis utilized effective offensive blocking to score 17 points and make the score 28-31. Pikes Peak kept a tiny, one point lead for one more jam, but Glasgow regained the lead in the following jam. With 17 minutes left on the clock, Brenda Lee attempted to pass the star to Mickey Torque but received a high block penalty in the process. Mickey Torque followed her to the box with the star in her hand after being warned and receiving a failure to return penalty. Brenda Lee was still the jammer for Pikes Peak while Sarah McMillan sped through the pack for the largest jam of the game. Those 29 points brought the score to 65-32 in favor of Glasgow.

Glasgow fought their way to a 47-point lead, the largest of the first half, over the next few jams. However, Pikes Peak narrowed the lead in the 18th jam. Parker maintained a dynamic bridge for Pikes Peak that allowed them to hold Marshall Lawless at the very edge of the engagement zone until she committed a back block penalty. Pepper Slay passed the star to Brenda Lee, who jumped her way through a depleted Glasgow pack to earn 20 points. This brought the score to 105-88. The score didn’t change much in the next two jams, and at halftime Glasgow led 110-92.

Photo by Ryan Quick

The beginning of the second half looked very similar to the first half. Glasgow was more successful at earning learning and containing Pikes Peak’s jammers, but Pikes Peak was still within 10-30 points of Glasgow. In the 9th jam of the half, Pikes Peak began a spiral of jammer penalties that gave Glasgow an opportunity to expand their lead. Glasgow stated that they “learned a lot” in their first two games, and proved it when they dominated the rest of the game. Glasgow’s four jammers Rogue Runner, Sarah McMillan, Megan Hyndman, and Marshall Lawless took turns earning lead and adding points to Glasgow’s lead. After the string of jammer penalties ended there were nine minutes left in the game and Glasgow led by 86 points with a score of 200-114.

Pikes Peak’s jammer went to the box three more times in the last nine minutes of the game. Many of their blockers also spent time in the penalty box, and Glasgow’s jammers easily skated through the spread out packs. In the final jam of the game Megan Hyndman and srs biznis took turns sitting in the penalty box for a high block and a back block, respectively. srs biznis added 24 points for Pikes Peak and brought the differential back under 100 points. Glasgow won their first game of the weekend with a score of 247-153. Sarah McMillan earned 96 of those points in her nine jams, and also earned lead in every one of those jams. Glasgow finished 9th Place and Pikes Peak finished in 10th.

FINAL SCORE

Glasgow Roller Derby (#7) 247
Pikes Peak Derby Dames (#9) 153