LUNACHIX STRONG IN VICTORY OVER TWIN CITY!
by Muckety Muck, Derby News Network Contributing Writer – Photos by Bob Dunnell
(BALLWIN, MO) Saturday night marked the conclusion of the Arch Rival Roller Girls’ 2011-12 local campaign at Midwest Sport Hockey… and what a way to put the capper on it!
Action this past weekend at Queeny Park saw the primary travel squads of the league collect impressive victories, one which had historical significance that shook up the national derby scene.
By utilizing a 38-0 second-period rally, the ARRG All-Stars – currently ranked fourth in the WFTDA North Central – posted a 115-99 upset over third-ranked Naptown to improve its record to 10-2.
In the opener, the Saint Lunachix – ARRG’s B-team – utilized a strong second half to net a 151-86 victory over the A-squad of the Twin City Derby Girls of Champaign/Urbana, IL.
For the 700 people that attended the doubleheader, they saw firsthand the explosive flat-track action that reminded us why we are all fans of this sport.
ARRG ALL STARS 115 NAPTOWN TORNADO SIRENS 99
One day after receiving its highest-ranking in the WFTDA North Central region to date, the “pink and black attack” recorded its most significant interleague victory onto the franchise’s ledger.
The 16-point win netted Arch Rival its fourth straight and its first historically over a North Central third-ranked squad. The whirlwind of activity in the past two months has resulted in the Missourians’ jumps of four positions within the region’s hierarchy and five positions in Derby News Network’s recently-released Power Rankings.
“Our heads are spinning,” beamed Arch Rival jammer Downtown Dallis afterwards. “We’re really trying to make a statement. We’re really doing it together as a team and encouraging each other. This is something that we have never experienced before as a league. It’s so humbling.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about this team’s potential,” added blocker Eli Wallop.
After setbacks earlier in the season to North Central rivals Windy City and Minnesota, the top two seeds for September’s “Thrill of the Spill” playoff, third-ranked Naptown (8-5) had plenty to prove heading into Saturday’s pier-sixer. Even though injuries have kept the Tornado Sirens’ line-up in perpetual motion throughout 2012, a weekend win for the Circle City’s finest over the league that sat one seat behind would solidify its status within the region’s trifecta.
Both teams gamely played as if their lives depended on it…and it made for one heck of a donnybrook.
Following a bout-opening five-pointer by Naptown’s Maiden America, Amooze Booche added a solo point to extend the lead to six. Arch Rival’s Dallis countered with a natural ten to give the hostesses its first lead, 10-6 with 25:00 left.
The Tornado Sirens tallied a 10-0 run on the next three jams to turn the bout back in their favor. Two scored by G. Rocket was followed by back-to-back four pointers by America and Booche, giving Naptown a 16-10 edge at the 20:00 mark.
Dallis countered with a 3-0 strike on the next jam to help Arch Rival pull within three. Seven points straight collectively from Naptown’s Trauma-lina and Booche extended Indy’s lead to 23-13 with 15:00 left in the half.
Arch Rival then capitalized on back-to-back power jams, resulting in 26 unanswered points. Black Market Baby’s seven-point bump at 13:15 was followed by Dallis’ 19-point thump, which gave St. Louis a 39-23 lead with 11:15 left.
Scoring was tight as the first period reached its conclusion, yet Arch Rival had managed to extend its margin to 53-30 at intermission.
Unsatisfied with its low-scoring first-half performance, Naptown charged hard in the opening stages of the second and went on an 18-3 run in the period’s first four jams. Punctuated by Majestic’s 12-3 power jam at 24:10, Naptown whittled the deficit to 56-48.
But as they were poised to regain the lead on the next rotation, penalties upended the Tornado Sirens, resulting in a 14-5 non-lead power jam for Arch Rival’s South City Shiner that extended St. Louis’ advantage to 70-53 with 21:40 left.
After Naptown’s Rocket scored five on the next jam to whittle the margin to a dozen points, Arch Rival went on a 38-0 rally in the second half’s middle stretch that altered the complexion of the bout. Following Dallis’ five-pointer scored at 16:20, Black Market Baby posted a 10-0 jam that extended the Arch Rival lead to 85-58. Mighty Mighty Boston, kept quietly at bay with only a pair of first-half points, collected nine on the next rotation to stretch the lead to 94-58.
As points accumulated for the locals, the Arch Rival blocking schema – paced by Wallop, Chewblocka, May Require Stitches, The Educator, Shimmy Hoffa, Party Foul, Grave Danger, Mayor Francis Slayer and Science Friction – kept the Tornado Sirens silent for a ten-minute stretch.
“Our blocking has been so solid,” praised Dallis of the front line. “They’re carrying us this year. “
“We’ve got a much more disciplined team this year than we’ve had in past years,” Wallop reflected. “Any time their jammers hit the pack, we’ve got a group of girls that are trained to get together, build a strong wall, keep the speed slow and build it to our momentum. It’s really been paying off.”
Shiner’s 14-point power jam at 10:10 put the exclamation point on the 38-0 rally, which gave Arch Rival an 108-58 cushion.
Undaunted, Naptown made a late-bout surge to make the contest a nail biter, racking up 31 points uncontested. Majestic capitalized on a power jam at 8:30 that netted 18 points and whittled Arch Rival’s lead to 108-76. Rocket followed with nine and America tacked on four to shave the once-50-point margin to 108-89 with 4:30 left.
A 10-4 Naptown power jam by America sliced the lead to a baker’s dozen, a 112-99 advantage for Arch Rival with 2:30 left. Boston retaliated with three points on the bout’s penultimate jam that extended St. Louis’ lead to 115-99.
One last ray of hope for the Tornado Sirens on the bout’s final rotation was thwarted as Dallis scampered to the front of the pack to gain lead for Arch Rival and expire the clock to preserve the 16-point upset.
Dallis paced Arch Rival scoring unofficially with 39 points, followed by Shiner’s 34.
St. Louis, idle until their “Thrill of the Spill” opening round match-up against fifth-ranked Ohio, plans to remember Naptown’s late-bout charge on Saturday in order to prepare for September’s playoff push.
“I felt like we played a really strong game, but we let a really good lead slip away,” said Wallop. “I’m glad that we’ve got five weeks to clean up some of the mistakes that we made tonight. We’ve got some time to get things in line that will help us come out firing.”
Naptown – who finished its North Central regular season play winless – was led by Majestic’s 35 followed by America’s 25.
UNOFFICIAL SCORING
ARCH RIVAL (115): Downtown Dallis 39, South City Shiner 34, Black Market Baby 26, Mighty Mighty Boston 14, The Educator 2
NAPTOWN TORNADO SIRENS (99): Majestic 35, Maiden America 25, Amooze Bouche 21, G-Rocket 16, Trauma-lina 2
ARRG SAINT LUNACHIX 151 TWIN CITY DERBY GIRLS 86
The b-team of ARRG faced a strong challenge from one of the newest additions to the WFTDA North Central. The Twin City Derby Girls came into the bout ranked regionally at #26, a strong showing for the young franchise only two years old.
The Lunachix had a serious battle on their hands as the Central Illinoisans dominated first half play.
Following a bout-opening pair of TCDG points, the Chix netted a dozen points uncontested. Chix jammer Brickyard’s three point tally was followed by four from EnYa Nightmare. Brickyard’s solo point on the next jam was followed by Morgan LeFaetal’s 4-0 jam that gave the Lunachix a 12-2 lead eight minutes in.
After Brickyard posted another four-pointer two jams later to extend the lead to 16-2, Twin City would go on a bout-numbing 32-0 run over the next five minutes.
TCDG’s Delta Badhand started the streak with an 11-point power jam at 20:20 to whittle the Lunachix lead to 16-13. Houchebag would follow with a nine-pointer to give TCDG its first lead of the bout, 22-16 at the 19:15 mark. Black-Eyed Betty’s 4-0 power jam and eight posted by Houchebag finished the rally and extended the Prairie State lead to 34-16 with 16:00 left in the half.
Nightmare broke the Chix scoring drought by posting five at 14:15 to pull the locals to 34-21.
Following a 2-2 stalemate that pushed the score to 36-23, Twin City netted seventeen points uncontested. Propelled by Houchbag’s 9-0 jam at the 10:55 mark, TCDG extended their lead to 51-23 with 9:12 left in the half.
Twin City’s push continued as the half continued. A 15-8 run over three jams pushed their lead to 66-31 with 4:50 remaining.
The Lunachix would mount a hard charge in the final minutes that narrowed the gap in half. A 20-0 rally in the first half’s final four jams narrowed the TCDG margin to 66-51 at intermission.
Perhaps the rally was the foreshadowing of things to come as the Lunachix proceeded to dominate play in the second half.
Rhino-Might’s period-opening four-pointer whittled TCDG’s lead to twelve. A 2-2 stalemate on the next jam pushed the score to 69-57 with 27:00 left.
The Lunachix then capitalized on a 37-0 run over the next three jams to gain the advantage. Rhino’s 9-0 jam at 25:35 was followed by Nightmare’s 23-point power jam that gave the local’s their first lead since the opening stages of the bout, an 89-69 lead change at 23:09. LeFaetal’s added five to conclude the rally and extend the Lunachix lead to 94-69 with 21:20 left.
TCDG kept pace as the period continued. With 11:00 left, the Lunachix maintained a 102-84 lead against the stubborn Central Illinoisans.
The Chix used the final ten to build a cushion thanks to power jams. Rhino-Might collected 16 off a power jam with 8:00 to widen the margin to 118-84. After LeFaetal collected 7-2 strike on the next rotation, Brickyard took the checkered flag with a 20-point power jam with 2:30 left to push the lead to 145-86.
Meanwhile, the Chix blocking battalion – paced by Eveready, Deathica Steele, Ginny Beastley, Polkadot Yr’Eyeout, Shell Shoxx, Hyrdogen Bombshell, Arcane Sugar, Boom Boom Pow and a host of others, held TCDG to only 20 points scored in the second half.
The Lunachix outscored Twin City by a 5-to-1 ratio, 100-20, in the second half to pick up the 151-86 win and improve to 7-2 on the season.
Brickyard paced Lunachix scoring unofficially with 44 points, followed by Nightmare’s 39. As selected by the Twin City Derby Girls, Nightmare was named “MVP Jammer” of the bout while Eveready was selected as “MVP Blocker.”
The Saint Lunachix next play the Kansas City Roller Warrior’s Plan B on August 18 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, MO.
Houchbag’s 43 points topped Twin City scoring unofficially, followed by Badhand’s 27.
TCDG (1-3) plays the St. Chux Derby Chix (5-1) this Saturday at Matteson Square Garden in St. Peters, MO.
UNOFFICIAL SCORING
SAINT LUNACHIX (151): Brickyard 44, EnYa Nightmare 39, Morgan LeFaetal 36, Rhino-Might 29
TWIN CITY DERBY GIRLS (86): Houchebag 43, Delta Badhand 27, Kimbuktu 9, Black-Eyed Betty 4
Check back in this section on Mondays for the latest in ARRG news and information!
