OHRG HEADED TO CHAMPS!
OHIO TO PLAY AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!
After coming so close last season to their first ever trip to the WFTDA Championship tournament, the Ohio Roller Girls have clinched a spot at the big dance in November. At the end of each season, the WFTDA holds four Division I tournaments to determine which teams will advance to Champs. The four Division I playoffs were held this year at Ft. Wayne (IN), Richmond (VA), Asheville (NC), and Salem (OR). Using an s-curve ranking system, the top 40 teams in the WFTDA were placed into one of the four above mentioned locations. At each tournament location, the top three finishers would earn a trip to the Championship tournament in November held in Milwaukee (WI). How did the Ohio Roller Girls do it? They came into Ft. Wayne as the #6 seed and upset #3 Arch Rival. OHRG then upset #2 Montreal before losing to #1 Denver in the final bout. The fantastic showing earned the Ohio Roller Girls a #2 seed at Champs.
#6 OHIO COLLAPSES #3 ARCH RIVAL 218-166
The Smacktivist scores 103 points
OHRG and Arch Rival have a storied history against one another, with the overall record against one another at 2-2. Arch Rival has defeated Ohio twice in St. Louis (most recently this May), but to date, Ohio had the bigger victory when they defeated Arch at last year’s playoffs. Arch skaters stated they underestimated Ohio last season and wouldn’t do it again this year. Early on, it appeared that way. A track cut to The Smacktivist on the bout’s second jam saw Brickyard post 25 unanswered for the favored Arch Rival squad. Four jams later, a misconduct penalty to Ohio’s Phoenix Bunz allowed South City Shiner to add 25 points. Six minutes into the bout, and Arch Rival had amassed an impressive 64-4 lead over Ohio.
Ohio chipped away over the next three jams and trailed 68-29 with 18:15 left. The Arch Rival pack flexed their collective muscles as they held Ohio jammers Kitty Liquorbottom, Phoenix Bunz, The Smacktivist, and Outa My Wayman scoreless over the next eight and a half minutes. The scoring drought put Ohio at their biggest deficit, 101-33, with less than ten minutes remaining. A track cut to Brickyard opened the door for The Smacktivist.
Heavy penalty trouble for Arch’s pack left two skaters on the track for the women from St. Louis. Smacktivist nearly doubled Ohio’s score after posting a 32-0 jam which cut Arch’s lead to 101-65. A second jammer cut penalty to Arch Rival’s South City Shiner three jams later again left the barn door open for The Smacktivist to tally big points. A thirty point jam by The Smacktivist cut Arch’s lead to 110-95 with 3:15 left in the first period. Since The Smacktivist’s 32-0 jam, Ohio’s defense showed why they are one of the best in the Midwest. Ohio outscored Arch 33-9 to close the period and only trailed the favored Arch Rival Roller Girls 110-98 at the intermission.
Only 24 points were scored over the second period’s first six jams and Arch Rival held a ten point lead, 121-111. Impressive blocking by Ohio’s pack held Arch’s Brickyard on her initial pass for the entire next jam. Phoenix Bunz posted 20 points during that time and gave Ohio their first lead of the bout. It was the only lead change of the contest as Ohio played like madwomen over the remaining 21:30 of the contest. Ohio’s defense held Arch scoreless over the next four jams and allowed their own jammers to outscore their opponents 52-0. With the flip of a switch, Ohio had broken away with a forty-two point lead, 163-121. Points were nickel-and-dimed over the next five jams, but Ohio held strong with a 176-128 lead and only 10:30 left on the clock.
Ohio jammer Kitty Liquorbottom was held on her initial pass before passing the star to Bratislava Bruiser on the half’s 16th jam. During Kitty’s struggles, Mighty Mighty Boston tallied 20 points for Arch Rival and cut the score to 176-148. Ohio would not let Arch Rival back into the bout as jammer The Smacktivist would add a 15-0 jam on the following trip. Phoenix Bunz would also chip in jams of 15 and 12 to close the bout. The Ohio Roller Girls had secured the upset victory, 218-166, and placed themselves in the semifinal bout against #2 Montreal. For the second year in a row, Ohio had upset the higher ranked Arch Rival Roller Girls, advanced in the winner’s bracket, and knocked ARRG down to the consolation rounds.
Jamming for Ohio were: The Smacktivist (9-15, 103 points), Phoenix Bunz (7-14, 73 points), Kitty Liquorbottom (3-10, 32 points), Pippi RipYourStockings (2-2, 10 points), Outa My Wayman (0-1, 0 points), and Bratislava Bruiser (0-1, 0 points). Ohio obtained lead jammer twenty-one times and were on seven power jams.
Jamming for Arch Rival were: Mighty Mighty Boston (7-11, 53 points), South City Shiner (3-9, 45 points), Brickyard (4-12, 45 points), and Smarty McFly (5-10, 23 points). Arch obtained lead jammer nineteen times and had seven power jams as well.
To watch the Ohio/Arch Rival bout, click here to watch the WFTDA.TV archive.
#6 OHIO SENDS #2 MONTREAL PACKING 212-149
In the semifinals, the winner of the Ohio vs. Montreal bout was assured a place in the tournament’s final game. It also meant that the winner of Ohio/Montreal would finish no lower than 2nd place, thus earning a trip to the WFTDA Championships in November. A loss meant one final bout for 3rd place against London (UK) for the last spot at Championships. It was another slow start for the Ohio Roller Girls as a forearm penalty to The Smacktivist on the bout’s second jam allowed Georgia W. Tush to put 15 unanswered points on the board. Four jams into the contest, Ohio trailed 3-20. A forearm penalty to Montreal’s Iron Wench allowed Kitty Liquorbottom to secure a 24-8 jam, and cut Montreal’s lead on a single point, 27-28. Montreal’s Mel E. Juana then visited the penalty box twice in the following jam as Phoenix Bunz tallied a 15-9 jam. Bunz’s points gave Ohio the lead… one they would never relinquish. Starting unopposed, The Smacktivist added 29 points and took Ohio’s lead to 71-37 with 18:15 remaining in the first period. Two more power jams to Ohio netted jams of 12 and 10 points by Bunz and Pippi RipYourStockings, while one power jam to Montreal added 17 to the Canadian squad. At the half, Ohio led 138-76.
Clockwork defense by Ohio’s Bunz, RipYourStockings, Bratislava Bruiser, Outa My Wayman, Loraine Acid, Amy Spears, and Ava Tarr held Montreal to only 73 second half points, and only two double-digit jams over the remaining thirty minutes of play. A 10 and 13 point outing by Kitty Liquorbottom and Bunz on consecutive jams took Ohio’s lead to 172-84 with 21:30 left on the clock. Points were scarce as jammers were forced to hit-and-quit over the next seven jams, but Ohio continued to lead 180-99 with 14:45 left. A multi-player block to Liquorbottom provided one of only two double-digit jams of the half for Montreal, a 13 pointer to cut Ohio’s lead to 180-112.
With Montreal still in the bout, and only 55 points behind, a seldom called penalty at the start of the next jam proved to be the difference in whether or not Montreal would make a comeback. On the half’s 17th jam, Montreal lined up without a jammer. With only a couple of seconds to go before the jam started, Iron Wench hustled toward the jammer line, but ran into Ohio’s pack player Ava Tarr, knocking her to the ground. The illegal procedure penalty provided an opportunity for Bunz to score 12 points for Ohio to take their lead to 201-134 with 8:00 left. Although they only scored 11 more points, Ohio was happy to forgo adding to their total as they played clockwork defense as time continued to tick off the clock. Montreal was only able to score 15 before the final whistle blew. The Ohio Roller Girls had secured their second upset in as many days by defeating Montreal 212-149. Up next for Ohio, a shot at #1 Denver in the championship bout.
Jamming for Ohio were: The Smacktivist (4-12, 82 points), Phoenix Bunz (10-15, 78 points), Kitty Liquorbottom (4-10, 40 points), Pippi RipYourStockings (2-5, 12 points), and Outa My Wayman (0-2, 0 points). Ohio obtained lead jammer twenty times and benefited from ten power jams.
Jamming for Montreal was: Iron Wench (13-22, 84 points), Georgia W. Tush (2-6, 36 points), Mel E. Juana (3-6, 21 points), Lil’ Mama (2-6, 8 points), and Greta Bobo (0-3, 0 points). Montreal obtained lead jammer twenty times and had six power jams.
To watch the Ohio/Montreal bout, click here to watch the WFTDA.TV archive.
#6 OHIO OUTPLAYED BY #1 DENVER 304-134
Looking to knock out the top three seeds in the Ft. Wayne tournament, the Ohio Roller Girls faced their biggest challenge in the weekend’s championship bout. Ranked the tournament’s #1 seed, and a WFTDA world ranking of #2, Denver was simply too much for Ohio to handle after upsetting Arch Rival and Montreal.
Denver obtained lead jammer each of the first five jams to lead 34-18. Ohio’s Phoenix Bunz then took advantage of a Julie Adams back block and posted 18 points. Bunz’s 18 pointer gave Ohio the lead 36-34. A 5-0 jam to Denver’s Adams swung the scoreboard back to the Mile High Club. It was a lead that Denver would not relinquish. Four power jams to Denver following the lead change was the story of the first half. While Ohio was only able to post minimal points with lead jammer, Denver was able to play solid defense with lead and post several double-digit jams. The half ended with Denver outscoring Ohio 69-0 over the final 7:30. At the intermission, the Mile High Club was comfortably ahead, 149-59.
Ohio couldn’t find their rhythm after halftime as they were outscored in the second half 155-75. Denver controlled nearly the entire second half, as they were able to obtain lead jammer 14 of the half’s 19 jams. Julie Adams scored 72 points in the second half, nearly half of her game high 152 points, on only five jams.
The silver lining for Ohio is that they had already clinched a spot at the WFTDA Championship tournament in November. With the 304-134 loss to Denver, Ohio will be a #2 seed at Champs and will be paired up against a #3 seed from either the Richmond, Asheville, or Salem playoff locations. At the time of this writing, Denver, Ohio, London (UK), Texas, Philly, and Angel City have all clinched spots at Champs. With Asheville and Salem yet to be played, six more teams will join the mix in their quest to raise the Hydra Trophy.
Jamming for Ohio were: Phoenix Bunz (6-14, 60 points), The Smacktivist (4-11, 58 points), Burnadeath (0-1, 8 points), Bigg Rigg (0-1, 7 points), Pippi RipYourStockings (0-3, 1 point), Outa My Wayman (0-1, 0 points), and Kitty Liquorbottom (0-8, 0 points). Ohio obtained lead jammer ten times and were on seven power jams.
Jamming for Denver were: Adams (11-13, 152 points), Williams (5-8, 63 points), Wilhelm (4-6, 53 points), and Sharpless (8-11, 36 points). The Mile High Club obtained lead jammer twenty-eight times and were on eight power jams. With the victory over Ohio, Denver secured a first round bye at Champs.
To watch the Ohio/Denver bout, click the WFTDA YouTube link here.
