#20 OHIO TRAVELS TO #11 NAPTOWN IN I-70 BATTLE
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05/02/2014 In Previews, Talk Derby To Me By Andrew Marron

#20 OHIO TRAVELS TO #11 NAPTOWN IN I-70 BATTLE

Playing in their sixth bout of the season, the #20 Ohio Roller Girls will travel west along I-70 this weekend as they take on traditional powerhouse #11 Naptown Roller Girls (Indianapolis).  Ohio will enter the contest with a 4-1 record under their collective belt as they have posted victories against Nashville (194-128), Bleeding Heartland (291-93), Toronto (185-172), and Tri-City (225-142).  Their lone defeat came at Quad City Chaos when they fell to Montreal.

The Naptown Tornado Sirens have had an eerily similar season thus far in 2014.  The Tornado Sirens are also 4-1 in sanctioned play with victories over Bleeding Heartland (295-148), Cincinnati (238-116), New Hampshire (182-140), and Tri-City (325-88).  Their lone defeat was to the Madison Dairyland Dolls in a hangover bout, 142-162.  Ohio and Naptown appear to be similar when taking a look at their shared opponents so far this season.  Naptown defeated Bleeding Heartland by 147 points, whereas Ohio defeated Bleeding Heartland by 198 points.  On the other hand, Ohio only defeated Tri-City by 83, whereas Naptown was victorious over the team from Kitchener Ontario by 237.  Simply by looking at how they’ve progressed over their first five bouts, it’s easy to see that Naptown is a team that is simply getting better as the season rolls along.

Historically, Naptown holds the advantage over the Ohio Roller Girls 3-2 in sanctioned play.  The two teams first met back in 2009 when Ohio was victorious 65-59.  Naptown then took the next three contests, including a sound victory (222-86) at Thrill of the Spill in the third place North Central playoff bout in 2012.  The victory secured a birth at the WFTDA Championships for Naptown, and left the Ohio Roller Girls in fourth place, basically on the outside looking in as they fell short of making it to Champs.  Ohio bested the team from Indianapolis in 2013 during a last-second, closed bout in order to get Naptown their required number of WFTDA sanctioned bouts to qualify for the Division 1 Playoffs.  Playing on basically the final day of the season, Ohio hosted Naptown on a Wednesday night and was victorious over the visitors 232-106.

The Ohio Roller Girls are coming off their best season to date, which was finalized with their first ever trip to WFTDA Championships. Naptown just missed making their third straight appearance at Champs in 2013 after coming in fourth place at the Richmond Division 1 Playoffs where they lost to Angel City 222-130 in the third place bout.  Looking to recapture Championships glory like they had back in 2011 and 2012, Naptown appears to be hungry to make it back to the big dance this season as they still have bouts scheduled against Atlanta and Steel City following their tussle against Ohio.

The key to victory against Naptown will primarily fall on the shoulders of Ohio’s blockers.  Naptown has proven to be a team that can score a ton of points during a bout and would most likely win a shoot-out if another team attempted to match them point for point.  They feature a strong four jammer rotation with Maiden America, G-Rocket, Amooze Booche, and Honey Badger… all of who are equally capable of wearing the starred helmet cover.  Clearing the way for their jammers are long time veterans for the Tornado Sirens, Asian Sinsation, Dora the Destroyer, and Scorpiopathic.

Naptown typically gets anywhere from 1000-1500 fans at their bouts, making Indianapolis one of the hardest places to skate as a visiting team.  Ohio will make the journey in hopes of winning their third bout over Naptown to even the series at .500.  Joining the Ohio Roller Girls charter team will be OHRG’s reserve squad, Gang Green, who will compete against Naptown’s Warning Belles.  The Warning Belles are currently 5-3 with notable victories against Twin City, Bleeding Heartland’s Code Blue Assassins, and the Cincinnati Violent Lambs.  Gang Green is 3-1 this year and are coming off a big victory against Demolition City’s Destruction Dames, 308-70.  Following their bouts against Naptown, the Ohio Roller Girls and Gang Green will have a home bout on May 10th against the Atlanta Rollergirls.

Photos by Dorn Byg of Byg Day Photography

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Andrew Marron