WFTDA 2011 North Central Region Playoffs Day 1 Wrap Up

by Garrison Killer

North Central Region Playoffs, the final 2011 Big 5 playoff tournament before Championships in Denver, kicked off with a barn burner, and followed with relatively few surprises.

Arch Rival Roller Girls (#8) took an early lead in the opening bout of Monumental Mayhem as they held #9 The Chicago Outfit scoreless for the first five minutes. The two teams traded leads over the course of several jams, then Sweet Mary Pain took the Outfit up 19 points as Arch Rival cascaded into the penalty box. However, Arch Rival took the lead into the half by a single point, 66-65.

The Outfit and Arch Rival battled the second half from whistle to whistle. Trading lead jams and executing on clever recycling, Arch Rival nevertheless crept ahead after fifteen minutes, sneaking up 92-82. A remarkable jam by Sweet Mary Pain brought the Outfit within one point (96-95) in the 23rd minute of the half, but consecutive jams by Black Market Baby and Downtown Dallis pushed out Arch Rival's lead once again. With one jam’s time left in regulation, the Outfit had an opportunity to steal the victory on an Arch Rival jammer penalty, but Outfit jammer Bloody Elle could only catch five points before going to the box herself for a track cut. Arch Rival took the win (119-116) and advanced to play Windy later in the day.

In the second bout, Brewcity Bruisers (#7) faltered at the start as #10 Ohio Roller Girls took the first two points of the game, but established dominance in the first half as the two teams battled over control of slow-moving packs. The tale of the first half was in the pack more than at the jammer line; both teams walled and recycled jammers efficiently. The teams left the track at halftime with Brewcity narrowly ahead.

Play resumed with Ohio taking control of the scoreboard for seven minutes. However, the Brewcity defense asserted their fierce delay tactics on Ohio’s 1-2-3 jammer rotation and held them to a single point over the course of the next thirteen minutes. Ohio’s pack fell to penalties, allowing the Brewcity jammers to score thirty-four points. Despite a late rally, the Brewcity All-Stars took the win 104-78 and advanced to play Detroit later that day.

Mad Rollin' Dolls (#6) went scoreless until the eleventh minute of the first period of their match up against the Minnesota RollerGirls (#3). The half ended with Minnesota breaking the century mark, 108-29. Minnesota built on their established lead and opened a hundred-point-wide gap after ten minutes of play in the second half, and Madison could not overcome the gap. Minnesota completed the win, 218-81.

The top-ranked Windy City Rollers (#1) took on Arch Rival Roller Girls (#8), fresh off of their morning win over the Chicago Outfit. Windy City took early advantage of Arch Rival's hard-fought victory and took a strong, early lead. Varla Vendetta and Athena DeCrime led an assault on the Arch Rival defense, scoring 57 unanswered points in the opening 15 minutes. They were up 111-18 at the half.

While the gap in score continued to increase over the course of the second half, the Arch Rival jammer team came alive in the second half. They found methods to break through the Windy City pack and started to both grab lead jammer and score in earnest. After ten minutes, Arch Rival had more than doubled their score, but despite some rallies, they ultimately could not push past Windy City’s large lead, and the #1 seed Windy City Rollers easily advanced into the semifinals, 197-82.

The velocity of the Detroit Derby Girls (#2) vs Brewcity Bruisers (#7) quarterfinal closely matched the previous game between Chicago and Arch Rival for the first 10 minutes; then Detroit jumped on a power jam opportunity and quickly took 27 unanswered points before Milwaukee’s Carrie A Hacksaw scored her team’s first grand slam.

First holding Detroit to 38 points for five jams, then to 56 for the last seven minutes of the half, Brewcity battled back to bring their team within sixteen points by the end of the half. Detroit, for the time being, was staving them off with pack tactics, but Brewcity was knocking on the door, and Detroit was ahead 56-40 at haltime.

Detroit came back after the half and slammed the door on Milwaukee. Brewcity scored only one more time in the bout, and Detroit won the game 174-59. Detroit now advances against Minnesota in the semi-finals in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal surprise.

The final bout of the night featured the hosting league of Monumental Mayhem, the Naptown Roller Girls (#4) vs #5 Cincinnati Rollergirls, and began with an exchange of four-and-out jams by Naptown’s Maiden America and Cincinnati’s Ouchocinco. Naptown then pulled ahead on a 9-0 Willa Hoeflinch jam, and the race was on.

The first half was marked by dynamic changes in speed of the pack and by a great deal of penalties. Both teams had occasion to send players to full penalty boxes, keeping the refs busy sending in and out blockers. Naptown continued to pull ahead of their rivals, leaving at halftime with a modest lead, 94-46.

Cincinnati came out of the locker rooms with a fresh fire, scoring 26 points in just four minutes. Naptown held them after that initial push, cleaned up their play and applied enough pressure to keep Cincinnati just out of reach of a good comeback. With the final whistle, Indianapolis’ own advanced for the first time to the playoff semi-finals, 166-113.

2011 North Central Region Playoffs Day 1 Results

• Arch Rival Roller Girls (#8) 119
  The Chicago Outfit (#9) 116
  Arch Rival advanced to play Windy City Rollers (#1) later in the day; Chicago will play #6 Mad Rollin' Dolls on Day 2.

• Brewcity Bruisers (#7) 104
  Ohio Roller Girls (#10) 78
  Brewcity advanced to play Detroit Derby Girls (#2) later in the day; Ohio will play #5 Cincinnati Rollergirls on Day 2.

• Minnesota RollerGirls (#3) 218
  Mad Rollin' Dolls (#6) 81
  Minnesota advances to play Detroit Derby Girls (#2) on Day 2; Madison will play #9 Chicago.

• Windy City Rollers (#1) 200
  Arch Rival Roller Girls (#8) 82
  Windy City advances to play #4 Naptown Roller Girls on Day 2; Arch Rival will play will play in the consolation round.

• Detroit Derby Girls (#2) 174
  Brewcity Bruisers (#7) 59
  Detroit advances to play Minnesota (#3) on Day 2; Brewcity will play in the consolation round.

• Naptown Roller Girls (#4) 166
  Cincinnati Rollergirls (#5) 113
  Naptown advances to play #1 Windy City on Day 2; Cincinnati will play Ohio.