PLUS, ARRG HOSTS CHICAGO OUTFIT THIS WEEKEND!
By Muckety Muck, Derby News Network Contributing Writer – Photos by Bob Dunnell
(NASHVILLE, TN) The two primary travel squads of the Arch Rival Roller Girls – the ARRG All-Stars and the Saint Lunachix – ventured to the “Music City” Saturday night to face the squads of the Nashville Rollergirls.
And in the home of the “Grand Old Opry,” St. Louis’ dominating performances shined like a rhinestone jacket worn by the late Porter Wagoner, a country music Hall of Famer and possessor of many a swanky suit.
The ARRG All-Stars – ranked eighth in the WFTDA North Central region – used a 90-0 second period rally to overpower South Central #3 Nashville 206-64. Meanwhile in the “b-team” undercard, the Saint Lunachix notched their second consecutive win in a 142-100 scrap with the Music City Brawl Stars.
The raucous crowd of 1,700 at downtown’s Municipal Auditorium could do little to stifle the heat brought about by the Gateway City’s derby swarm.
To paraphrase St. Louis rapper Nelly, “Was it gettin’ hot in herre?” Indeed, it was.
ARRG ALL STARS 206 MUSIC CITY ALL-STARS 64
The end result of the ARRG All-Stars’ 142-point win against Music City set a precedent. It was the franchise’s first victory historically over a WFTDA region’s third-ranked team since its charter was set in September 2007.
“I have been on the travel team since its inception, and I’ve love everybody that I have ever played with, but this is the best, most cohesive roster that we have ever had,” said Arch Rival blocker Grave Danger after the bout.
The victory was also St. Louis’ second in a row against a South Central top four. Arch Rival bested SC#4 Houston last month, which helped them leapfrog back into the Derby News Network’s Power Rankings last week after a two-month absence.
“I wish I could tell you that there was some magic formula,” Danger says of the squad’s recent momentum that has pushed their record to 8-2 overall. “But no, we’re working together as a team, we’re training as a team and everybody’s hard work is coming through together. It’s an exciting time for the league. “
Nashville, third place finishers in the South Central playoffs the past two years, fielded a line-up Saturday that contained numerous absences from the squad that competed for the Hydra Cup last November. The departure of marquee veteran Ramb0 Samb0 and injures to last year’s South Central playoff MVP Rock Nasty and multi-positional starter Lady Fury undoubtedly subtracted some depth.
Yet the hosts were the ones to draw first blood as Nashville grinded out a 12-0 lead after four jams, paced by Slayla’s five-pointer scored at 25:20.
The fast Music City start had the travelling ARRG fan base feeling uncomfortable. Could a long night be in store for the “pink and black attack” due to a sputtering start?
“I don’t know really what happened,” recalls Danger of the early Nashville sprint. “They were working off what we like to call ‘the chaos theory.’ You know, it’s a loud auditorium. It’s their home crowd. We’re trying to get our bearings. They had the floor advantage. So we definitely had to take a step back and adjust real quickly.”
But cooler heads prevailed and after the Music City cushion was whittled to 19-12 at the 20:00 mark, Arch Rival proceeded to go on a 28-0 run over the bout’s next six jams. Mighty Mighty Boston started the surge with a 5-0 jam to cut Nashville’s lead to 19-17. Black Market Baby’s four-pointer one the next rotation gave ARRG its first lead of the bout, 21-19 at the 17:00 mark.
A pair of points by Downtown Dallis was followed by seven from Boston, extending St. Louis’ advantage to 30-19. The rally’s conclusion of Black Market Baby’s 10-pointer stretched Arch Rivals lead to 40-19 with 11:31 left in the period.
Nashville proceeded to stay within striking distance and whittled the margin to 53-36 after Four Leaf Roller scored six with 2:30 left, but St. Louis’ 18-0 dash in the final two jams pushed its advantage to 71-37 at intermission.
The pair of first-half Arch Rival defensive stoppers certainly piloted the visitors’ 46-point lead at the break, but few would have projected the St. Louis shutdown that changed the bout’s overall complexion early in the second half.
Leading 73-41 three minutes in, Arch Rival proceeded with a 90-0 quad-stomp over the next eight rotations, four of which contained power jams. After South City Shiner posted a 20-pointer at 25:00 that extended the lead to 93-41, Black Market Baby tallied twenty of her own two jams later. Shiner then added 24 at 16:50 to stretch the margin to triple digits and BMB finished the rally with a 10-point power jam at 14:00.
Complimenting the scoring was the stubborn Arch Rival blocking schema during the thirteen-minute lockdown, paced by Eli Wallop, Chewblocka, Science Friction, May Require Stitches, The Educator, Party Foul, Shimmy Hoffa, Mayor Francis Slayer and the aforementioned Danger.
When the dust had settled after the onslaught, a once-workable differential for Nashville had become insurmountable and Arch Rival held a commanding 163-41 lead.
“I felt like we were playing some stellar defense and then our jammers were able to capitalize and put up points,” assessed ARRG blocker Chewblocka afterwards. “That’s a great combination to have. We wore them down with our strategy and with our game play.”
ARRG continued the dominance as Boston used another power jam at 8:30 to collect 25 points, widening the gap to 192-49.
Arch Rival’s defense was tight throughout the second period, holding Nashville scoring to a dozen points until the bout’s final two jams. St. Louis outscored Music City 135-27 in the second half en route to the 142-point victory and finish season 3-1 against South Central teams in WFTDA-sanctioned play.
“We have really been putting the pedal to the metal as far as training, tightening our game up and I feel with every game, you’re seeing our team evolve,” said Danger of Arch Rival’s summertime push. “This was a huge win for us.”
All four Arch Rival jammers scored 30-plus points in the win. Boston unofficially topped Arch Rival scoring with 68, followed by Shiner’s 56.
Overall, it was an eye-opening performance by St. Louis, one that should propel this squad as the regular season progresses.
“It really gives us a lot of confidence going into what we have to do the rest of the year,” said Chewblocka.
Four Leaf Roller led Nashville (3-4) with 28 points unofficially, followed by Slayla’s 19
UNOFFICIAL SCORING
ARCH RIVAL (206): Mighty Mighty Boston 68, South City Shiner 56, Black Market Baby 47, Downtown Dallis 35
NASHVILLE (64): Four Leaf Roller 28, Slayla 19, Dani Doom 17
ARRG SAINT LUNACHIX 142 MUSIC CITY BRAWL STARS 100
In the b-team undercard, the Saint Lunachix staved a late Nashville rally and countered with one of its own to record its second straight win.
Jammer EnYa Nightmare began the bout with seven non-lead points to give the Chix a 7-0 edge.
An 8-1 Nashville run off the next four jams resulted in a lead change, a Music City 9-8 advantage at the 23:15 mark. Chix jammer Sly Davinita tied the score 9-9 with a solo point on the next jam.
A 7-2 jam by Nashville’s E. Lemonator at 19:50 broke the deadlock and gave the Brawl Stars a 16-11 lead. Both teams traded four-pointers on the next two jams to push the score to 20-15.
Then with 15:00 left in the first half, Nashville netted the bout’s first power jam. Stella Live notched a 13-4 jam and gave Nashville a 33-19 advantage.
The Saint Lunachix countered with a 41-9 run over the next ten minutes. Punctuated by Nightmare’s 19-pointer scored with 10:00 left and an additional 15 on the first period’s penultimate jam, the Chix powered their way to a 60-42 lead.
Chix jammer Morgan LeFaetal finished the half by collecting four points to give the Saint Lunachix a 64-42 lead at intermission.
Another Chix rally began second half play, resulting in seven consecutive lead jams and a 37-4 sprint.
Back-to-back four pointers by LeFaetal and Nightmare were followed by eight from Davinita at 26:20 to extend the ARRG lead to 80-42. A 4-3 run by Nashville on the next two jams was countered by a rare jam rotation by Polkadot Yr’ Eyeout. The Chix vet posted four to extend the lead to 87-46 with 22:00 left.
LeFaetal netted 14 on the next jam to extend the lead to 101-46.
Ten minutes deep into the second period, all seemed stable with the Lunachix. Or at least it somewhat seemed that way. To the Brawl Stars’ credit, they were poised to hit St. Louis with instability.
A 27-0 Nashville rally during the middle stretch of the period marked the resurgence.
A trifecta of four pointers – jammed by the Brawl Stars’ Ann T. Histimine, Devaskater and again from Histimine – narrowed the margin to 101-58 with 17:18 left. Stella Live notched three points two jams later to cut the spread to 40 and then popped another four at 13:10 to whittle the Chix lead to 101-65.
Electric Cal posted eight points on the next jam for Nashville, who had now narrowed the gap to 101-73.
LeFaetal would stop the Lunachix ten-minute scoreless drought and post four points at 10:30 to extend the margin back to 105-73.
Cal answered with a pair of points on the next jam for Nashville and put the differential at thirty points, 105-75.
Then with 7:32 left, the Brawl Stars found the opening it had patiently been waiting for as Stella Live grabbed lead and posted a 15-0 jam, cutting the Chix lead to 105-90.
Undaunted, the Lunachix put their “work quads” on and shut down any late-bout Nashvegan shenanigans. The blocking of Chix captain Boom Boom Pow, Deathica Steele, Shell Shoxx, Ginny Beastly, Polkadot Yr. Eyeout, Everyeady, The Oregon Betrayal and host of others put the clamp down the Music City offense and open up holes for Nightmare and LeFaetal to barrel through.
The pair picked up back-to-back four pointers to widen the gap to 113-90 with under 3:00 remaining. Nightmare’s 20-pointer collected on the bout’s penultimate jam stretched the lead to 133-90.
The Lunachix went on to outscore Music City 78-58 in the second half to improve to 5-2.
Nightmare paced the Lunachix with unofficially 86 points, followed by LeFaetal’s 42.
Stella Live led Brawl Stars’ scoring with 60 points, unofficially.
UNOFFICIAL SCORING
ARRG SAINT LUNACHIX: EnYa Nightmare 86, Morgan LeFaetal 42, Sly Davinita 10, Polkadot Yr. Eyeout 4
ALL-STARS & CHIX HOST CHICAGO OUTFIT THIS SATURDAY!
There’s no rest for the weary as both the All-Stars and Lunachix prepare for battle as they host the squads of Chicago Outfit this Saturday night Midwest Sport Hockey at Queeny Park (570 Weidman Rd., Ballwin, MO).
In the main event, the Arch Rival All-Stars battle the Chicago Outfit Syndicate in WFTDA-sanctioned action. Prior to that match-up, ARRG’s Saint Lunachix tangle with the Chicago Outfit Shade Brigade.
Doors open for the doubleheader at 6:30 pm and the first bout starts at 7 pm. Tickets are $15 cash only at the door for general admission. Children 10 and under get in free. Save $3 on individual tickets purchased in advance online at Brown Paper Tickets. Go to the main page of archrivalrollergirls.com to purchase tickets.
The best rivalry of the North Central region in 2011 – and perhaps overall in the WFTDA - involved the two A-squads in the marquee match-up.
The ARRG All-Stars and the Chicago Outfit Syndicate, currently ranked fifth in the WFTDA North Central region, spilt four bouts last year that simultaneously featured plenty of power and passion.
The locals upset the higher-ranked Syndicate at Midwest Brewhaha in May 2011 and then stumbled in a road loss in Chicago later that July. In October, the two squads met in the opening round of the North Central region playoffs. In an emotional bout that went down to the final jam, Arch Rival squeaked out a three-point victory.
The two squads would inevitably meet in the tourney’s fifth-place bout. This time, the Outfit powered their way to a 153-113 win and split the year’s series two games apiece.
The inspired play over the four-bout set in 2011 garnered a lot of attention within and outside the North Central. The ARRG vs. Outfit series finished in the top five internationally in the annual Derby News Network “Reader’s Choice Awards” in the “Best Rivalry” category.
“Last year, we traded tit for tat with them,” said ARRG blocker Grave Danger of the series. “But this year, we want to turn all our periods into exclamation points.”
“Those girls are so scrappy,” adds All-Star blocker Chewblocka. “I never know what to expect, but we totally love that rivalry a whole lot.”
The Syndicate’s Queefer Sutherlund. Photo credit: Chicago Outfit
This Saturday night, ARRG renews it acquaintances with the Northern Illinoisans that look to post a very important regional win.
The fifth-ranked Chicago Outfit Syndicate (5-4) has maintained their position in the North Central top ten with five solid victories within the division so far this season. Victories over #6 Brewcity, #11 Grand Raggidy,#14 Ft. Wayne, #16 Burning River and unranked Old Capitol City saw the Chicagoans play the powerful derby that they are known for.
The Syndicate’s one in-region misstep occurred in a 20-point loss to #9 Cincinnati last month at Midwest Brewhaha 2012.
The loss to a lower-ranked squad that ARRG has already beaten twice this season left the Midwestern mafia feeling surly, knowing that the setback could knock them down in the hierarchy of the North Central top ten.
And an additional “outside the region” loss to another squad that St. Louis had beaten recently didn’t help. The Syndicate was upended by the aforementioned Houston 118-102 in late-April.
Putting Arch Rival in the proverbial “concrete shoes” Saturday night most definitely rights the ship for the Outfit. And even though the Syndicate lost two key cogs of last year’s squad – region playoff MVP Sweet Mary Pain and top-notch blocker Gaygan – due to transfer, the rollers from Northern Illinois still bring plenty of weapons to battle.
The Syndicate’s Lola Blow. Photo credit: Chicago Outfit
An offensive focal point is jammer Lola Blow – a returning starter – whose spunky play characterizes this squad. She netted a 32-point power jam to pace scoring in last month’s win over Burning River. She’ll share the star with another ARRG nemesis, Queefer Sutherland, who uses her natural physical strength to muscle her way to the front of the pack. Second-year starter Suzie Crotchrot and Matza Ball Breaker will also see rotations in the jammer position for the Syndicate.
There’s plenty of experience found in front in the Outfit blocking schema. Returning starters Lady K, The Joan Ranger, Maul E. Hatchet and Bloody Elle will see plenty of minutes as they try to simultaneously open up holes for their jammers offensively and stifle Arch Rival defensively.
With a win Saturday night, one of these two squads is going to make a huge statement prior to September’s North Central region playoff.
For Arch Rival, it will be another victory over a higher-ranked squad and that will give the league another boost as it heads into a big match-up against North Central #3 Naptown in August at Midwest Sport Hockey.
For the Chicago Outfit Syndicate, a dominant performance and a “W” will silence the naysayers and prove that, once again, North Central’s scrappiest team refuses to back down when facing the odds.
Danger knows that the Syndicate is more than ready for battle.
“The Outfit is not a team to be taken lightly,” she says. “If they stay out of penalty trouble, which they can absolutely do, they are a huge threat on the track.”
But Danger also knows that a win for her squad could potentially send a message for the other North Central squads competing in the upcoming regional playoffs.
“We want to make sure that everybody understands that we are one of the contenders for one of the top three this year,” she says.
We’ll find out which team wants it more Saturday night.
Meanwhile in the opening bout Saturday night, two squads are tussling for “b-team” bragging rights as the Saint Lunachix battle the Chicago Outfit Shade Brigade.
In their inaugural meeting one year ago in Chicago, the Chix were ready and steady in a 156-112 victory.
It’s business as usual for ARRG’s b-team. They’ll have to be at their best against the Shade Brigade, a competitive squad whose 2-4 record is somewhat misleading.
The Shade Brigade’s Ottermatic Weapon. Photo credit: Chicago Outfit.
Chicago’s “dons-n-waiting” split their pair of bouts in June at Midwest Brewhaha 2012. A setback to Naptown’s Warning Belles was followed by a 159-115 victory over the newly-established Mid-State Sisters of Skate from Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Their other 2012 victory was a 121-90 win over the “A-squad” of Toledo, Ohio’s Glass City Rollers, one of the newest chartered teams of the WFTDA North Central region.
The Shade Brigade’s Jenergizer Bunny and Ottermatic Weapon will pace the jamming rotation while Lexistential Crisis and Annie War Doll will lead the charge in the blocking schematic.
In this match-up, a fast start will be a key. We’ll see which squad goes for the quick strike early.
While you’re at Midwest Sport Hockey Saturday night, you can take some sweet schwag home by participating in the charity raffle that benefits Safe Connections of St. Louis. Tickets to future bouts, gift certificates and other goodies are for the taking. Raffle tickets are $1 apiece or six for $5.
Have you always wanted to ride a Harley, but were afraid to? No worries at all. Saturday night, you can get the feel of riding a Harley as one of ARRG’s newest sponsors, Doc’s Harley Davidson, presents its ride simulator. Stop on by and visit the good folks from Kirkwood and see how you can “Pick Your Own Reward” in July with the purchase of a new in-stock 2012 Harley Davidson Motorcycle!
Post-bout After Party at Harrah’s Casino!
After Saturday’s doublerheader, join us for the official ARRG post-bout after party, held at Sammy’s Beach Bar and Grill, located at Harrah’s Casino in Maryland Heights. There are drink and food specials to be found, plus you can meet your favorite athletes from both the Arch Rival Roller Girls and the Chicago Outfit. And some of the best casino action in the area is mere footsteps away. There’s no cover for the post-bout after party at Harrah’s. We hope to see you there!
And if you thought the Arch Rival vs. Outfit battle this weekend was just limited to the Saturday bouts, think again. On Sunday, the ARRG Rookie Rivals – the league’s c-team of developmentals – face the Chicago Outfit Shakedown in a closed scrimmage in St. Louis.
The two squads met for the first time last July and the Rookie Rivals rolled to a 181-70 victory.
In the line-up for the Rookie Rivals will be faces familiar for those who follow ARRG action locally as well as a few new skaters who will make their intraleague debut when the local season resumes later this year.
The Rookie Rivals tentative roster: The Ginger Assassin, Sly Davinita, Duece Bomber, Trajec Tory, Dolly Rot’N, Vod Ka’Nockers, Mali Bruz Barbie, Rumbledore, Arcane Sugar, Calamity Cat, Kimical Burn, Blue Ridge Riot, Spice Rack, Party Rockher and Shacgyver.
In all, it’s St. Louis vs. Chicago this weekend. It’s always had a great ring to it and the trend will continue.
NEXT WEEK IN THE ARRG NEWSCENTER: We’ve set the template for you. Now, we’ll bring you the results. Full coverage of the weekend triple-header featuring the squads of the Arch Rival Roller Girls and the Chicago Outfit.
Check back in this section on Mondays for the latest in ARRG news and information.
