FACE #9 INDIANAPOLIS IN ROUND ONE OF NC REGIONAL
by The Grand Poobah
(PART ONE OF TWO)
For the best on quads from the Gateway City, it’s been a long, long wait.
After eight hard months of preparation and competition, the post-season push is on for the ARRG All-Stars (5-9) as it prepares for the upcoming Women’s Flat Track Derby Association National Tournament.
The locals face the Naptown Tornado Sirens of Indianapolis in the first round of the North Central Regional - dubbed “Thunda on the Tundra” - Friday, September 10 at the Brown County Arena in Green Bay, WI. The complete bracket can be found HERE.
Nationally, four separate WFTDA regionals are held, each featuring the top ten teams seeded and invited by the association. In short, forty WFTDA-sanctioned teams begin the playoff journey nationally.
The top three finishers in each respective regional advance to the WFTDA Championship Tournament held in November in Chicago, IL.
The early Friday match-up in the North Central regional playoff features two franchises familiar with each other. The eighth-seeded Missourians skated into Indy in March 2009 and rolled away with a 30-point victory.
The uphill journey to face ninth-seeded Naptown (8-3 in 2010 and a playoff first-timer) has been an exhausting one. The season - filled with peaks and valleys - featured battles against some of the best in the North Central and beyond.
The first of this two-part series recaps the whirlwind 2010 season of the ARRG All-Stars, while next week’s entry looks at the future of this scrappy team, one that could turn heads at the upcoming North Central regional.
First to recap, a synopsis of the 2010 regular season for the ARRG All-Stars:
February 13: ARRG 172 Memphis 92
The travel team season started for ARRG in dominating fashion as the locals outscored the Hustlin’ Rollers 108-32 in the second half to pick up an opening win. The road victory proved that ARRG was a team that was primed to take on all comers. 2010 league scoring champion Starry Starry Fight topped ARRG with 51 points.
February 20: Brew City 120 ARRG 65
In its first 2010 action at home, ARRG was upended by a much improved Milwaukee squad. Brew City was able to throw off the ARRG blueprint by holding high scoring jammer Artemischief to a dozen points. Bruiser jammer High D. Voltage collected 55 points in the victory for Milwaukee. Enya Nightmare paced ARRG with 23 points.
March 7: ARRG 139 Chicago Outfit 110
This “closed to the public bout” held in St. Louis featured a 92-43 lead for the locals at the half en route to its second win. Starry Starry Fight finished with 41 points while four ARRG skaters would net over twenty points apiece.
March 13: Atlanta 116 ARRG 79
The Dirty South Derby Girls extended its early 2010 undefeated streak to four bouts with the 37-point win. DSDG took a 67-31 lead into intermission and never looked back. South City Shiner picked up the MVP for ARRG, who dropped to 2-2 with the loss.
April 17: Cincinnati 134 ARRG 68
ARRG played in front of its largest crowd in franchise history - 3,100 at the historic Cincinnati Gardens. Unfortunately, it was against one of the best squads in Black Sheep history as Cincinnati raced out to a 90-17 halftime lead. ARRG would outscore Cincy 51-49 in the second half but the intermission deficit was too much to overcome. ARRG All-Star call-up Black Market Baby would pace the locals with 20 points.
May 1: Nashville 115 ARRG 82
Another road trip against another Midwestern powerhouse. And this one was a knock down, drag out, pier-six brawl throughout. ARRG posted a 72-70 lead midway through the second half. Music City’s best would then go on an unstoppable roll - outscoring St. Louis 45-10 down the stretch to hand ARRG its third loss in a row. Nashville’s Rambo Sambo scored an eye-popping 67 points while Artemischief posted 25 for ARRG.
May 22, Midwest Brewhaha: ARRG 115 Tampa Bay 110
Heading into the two-day Wisconsin invitational with a 2-4 record, ARRG needed a “pick us up.” It got what it was looking for in its win against the Tantrums. However, it didn’t come easy. Tampa Bay erased a 36-point lead in the second half to send the bout into a situation where the “winner takes all” with the bout’s final jam. South City Shiner sealed the five-point win by obtaining lead jammer status and quickly called off the jam. Artemischief scored 42 for ARRG, who picked up its third victory of the season.
May 22, Midwest Brewhaha: Jet City 162 ARRG 108
This would be the bout that ARRG wished it had a mulligan for. The locals raced out to a 78-42 halftime lead. And all seemed well in ARRG Nation, until Seattle’s best stopped the locals in its squads as the Bombers went on a 66-8 run in nine minutes. Jet City would go on to outscore ARRG 120-30 in the second half to pick up the win. Artemischief scored 51 to lead ARRG.
May 23, Midwest Brewhaha: ARRG 161 Burning River 57
A major rebound for ARRG occurred in day two of the Brewhaha. Still agitated from the Jet City letdown, the locals roughed up the North Central counterpart, holding them scoreless for a 22-minute stretch. ARRG would head into intermission with a 76-23 lead at the half. Remembering the huge leads lost in the earlier Tampa Bay and Jet City match-ups, ARRG remained aggressive in the second half, outscoring Burning River 104-34 to pick up two wins at the Brewhaha. Black Market Baby scored 49 points for ARRG, who headed into June with a 4-5 record.
June 5: ARRG 127 Duke City 75
Capitalizing on the experience of Brewhaha served the locals well, as ARRG dominated Albuquerque- ranked sixth in the West Regional - at the All-American Sports Mall. The locals outscored the Munecas Muertas 78-34 in the second half to even their 2010 record at 5-5. Artemischief scored 48 points in the ARRG victory.
August 14, ARRGageddon: Philly 156 ARRG 53
The opener to St. Louis’ first-ever derby invitational saw one of the best visiting squads to ever step onto the All-American Sports Mall surface. The Liberty Belles - ranked second in the East - barreled its way to a 90-32 halftime lead en route to a 103-point victory. Five Philly skaters scored over twenty points apiece while Artemischief topped the locals with 27 points.
August 14, ARRGageddon: Detroit 195 ARRG 65
Later that night, ARRG found itself against another high-octane opponent in Detroit, the second ranked team in the North Central. The Motor City cruised to an 88-33 lead at the half and never looked back. Artemischief scored 39 for ARRG, who was handed its seventh loss of the season.
August 15, ARRGageddon: Kansas City 135 ARRG 95
The invitational closer featured ejections and dejection. The highly-emotional I-70 battle saw ARRG down 80-60 at the halftime break, but the Roller Warriors played a high-impact second half to extend the lead to fifty. The 40-point loss resulted in a winless ARRGageddon for St. Louis. Artemischief paced ARRG with 46 points.
August 21: North Star 80 ARRG 75
One week later, the All-Stars travelled to Minneapolis to challenge the North Central’s sixth-seeded team. In another donnybrook, both teams traded leads in the second half. Faced with a “penultimate jam” scenario, the Supernovas gained the advantage and ARRG saw itself finish August winless with the five point loss.
FINAL 2010 REGULAR SEASON RECORD: 5-9
Although the record may not be the one desired…keep this in mind.
The caliber of competition that ARRG faced this travel season was unprecedented. The nine teams that ARRG fell to in 2010 had a combined record of 68-22….a winning percentage of 75%.
Of the 14 teams ARRG played this season, 12 have made the post-season,invitation-only WFTDA regionals.
By comparison, of the 11 teams Naptown faced this season, only two (Detroit and Memphis) have made the playoffs.
But all those stats are now wiped clean from the slate. It’s a new season…a post-season.
And ARRG looks to become one of “the derby dozen” that looks to make the November trek to the Windy City.
NEXT MONDAY IN THE ARRG NEWSCENTER: PART TWO - ARRG vs. Naptown. How the locals shape up, how the opposition stacks up and how the rest of the regional bracket looks. We’ll preview ARRG’s journey to “Thunda on the Tundra.”
The Grand Poobah and Hells LaBelle are bout announcers for the Arch Rival Roller Girls. Check back in this section on Mondays for the latest in ARRG News and Information.
