Jacksonville, FL

By Whacks Poetic

In the second game of the second day of Florida's first WFTDA Playoffs, we saw Tampa Roller Derby from Tampa, FL, USA, take on Glasgow Roller Derby from across the pond, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Coming in as the #7 Seed, Glasgow was upset by #10 seed, Charlottesville Derby Dames, on the first day of the tournament and was looking for a win. Tampa came to this game after losing to higher-seeded rivals Atlanta Rollergirls. They needed to win this game to leave the tournament the same ranking they came in, fifth. Although WFTDA fans love new-to-playoffs teams like Glasgow, this crowd was definitely behind their fellow Floridans. Tampa did not disappoint, winning 284-100.

Photo by Ryan Quick

The game started with a home crowd advantage -Tampa took the first two jams, scoring 4 points each time. Glasgow looked to be up to the challenge, taking the next two jams at 5-0 apiece. The crowd would not be pacified though and cheered on Tampa as they scored 19-0 and 20-0 on the next two jams. With 10 minutes gone, the score read, 51-10 for the home state favorites. The walls slowed to a grinding pace and jammers were quick to follow each other out of the pack, resulting in a lot of low-scoring jams. With 15 minutes to go in the half, Glasgow managed to double their score to 38 with a great jam by Marshall Lawless as PhDiesel sat in the box for Tampa. When the dust settled from that jam, the score read 74-38. A 4-0 jam by Megan Hyndman (who had 100% lead in the first half) would bring the Glaswegians to 42. The score would creep up once more for both teams and at the half was 124-65 for Tampa.

The start of the second half saw Little A lose lead in a jam for the first time in the game. Luckily, she quickly made up for it and snuck three points off of the Scots on a late call off by Marshall Lawless. Tampa’s signature flamingoes flew in the air in support of Tampa as in the next jams, Smooth Operator, Laryn Kill, Ana Cheng, Little A and PhDiesel put up 42 unanswered points. It appeared that Tampa blockers had discovered the key to shutting down Megan Hyndman and the #5 seed grew their lead with the score reading 196-78 with 15 minutes to play.

Photo by Ryan Quick

Tampa’s Krush Groove explained, "This entire season has been about adapting. Learning to trust each other and how everyone plays. We definitely learned how to adapt better and more quickly this year."

Glasgow found themselves in a bit of penalty trouble with back-to-back jammer penalties. Laryn Kill capitalized on it and put up a game-topping 33 points in one jam. Glasgow managed a handful more points in the game but Tampa really hit their stride putting up 50 points in the last 10 minutes to end the game, 284-100.

"Glasgow was really good at flustering us and interfering with what we wanted to do. I think the last ten minutes we managed to calm ourselves and figure out how to play our game," Krush Groove said.

Tampa will be facing #8 Seed, Steel City Roller Derby from Pittsburgh, PA, USA at 6 pm EDT Saturday. Glasgow will play for 9th place at 10 am Sunday against the Colorado Springs team, Pike's Peak Derby Dames.

FINAL SCORE

Glagsow Roller Derby (#7) 100
Tampa Roller Derby (#5) 284