Dust Devil '07 TXRG Recap

By TXRG SuperFan Phil Arnold of RollerDerbyIsSport Yahoo Group

For the Texas Rollergirls travel team, the defending 2006 National Champion WFTDA Team, Dust Devil would probably have to be considered a disappointment. Eventual champions Rat City All-Stars upended Texas in the semi-final round. For the Texecutioners, an all-star team that had never lost an Interleague bout, there was a definite bad taste from this tournament. Still Texas won two out of three games, with the other games not even being close.

In the first game of the tournament, the Texas Rollergirls defeated the Sin City Neander Dolls, 121-49, in a 72 point blow-out. Texas actually trailed after the sixth jam of the first period 15-10, but would come back and outscore Vegas 30-4 the rest of the period. At the end of the second period Texas had extended the lead to 78-41, and in the third period they outscored Sin City 43-8.

Buckshot Betsy, who scored 35 points, led Texas. Captain Bloody Mary also scored a good number of points jamming, and did an excellent job of blocking from the front of the pack. Texas Coach Sonny felt that all of the skaters had good moments, especially in blocking, as the Texecutioners shut out Sin City for nine consecutive jams between the end of the second period and halfway through the third period. I would say that Kitt Fisto of Vegas and Bruce Killis played very good games for Vegas.

Texas Upset by Rat City, 105-95 in Semi-Final Action

Texas started the game off on fire, getting lead jammer after lead jammer, putting up a 39-12 lead at the end of the first period. One of the reasons for Seattle's low scoring was their jammer was in the penalty box several times, and that can cripple a team's offense and put a lot of pressure on its defense.

In the second jam of the second period, Rat City Jammer Miss Fortune would counter with a 10 point jam as Texas jammer Rice Rocket was sent to the penalty box, for the first of what would be many jammer penalties for Texas. The Seattle squad would throw five shutout jams in a row to narrow the led to 52 to 50. However in the next to the last jam of the period, Trouble would counter with an eight point jam that would widen the lead to 64 to 54 at the end of the second period.

As the first jam of the third period started, Rat City’s Miss Fortune would start a jam that would help swing the game around. When Texas’ Rice Rocket came out of the box, she only jammed a short while before she was put in the box for a major penalty. That allowed Rat City to play offense almost the whole jam, and Miss Fortune scored 16 points as Rat City took the lead for the first time in the game 70-64.

Rice Rocket would help Texas come back however as she pulled a five point jam midway through the third period, and Cat Tastrophe would follow it up with Texas' largest jam of the game with 8 points to give the Texecutioners and 86-80 lead. Then with another Texas jammer in the box, Hideous Braxley would add ten points on a jam for Rat City, and the Northwestern squad would follow it up with a 6 point jam to take a commanding 104-93 lead going late into the game.

But the game was not over yet with the possibility of two jams. Rat City jammer Anna R. Kissed was soon sent to the penalty box late with a major and Texas had a real shot at making up some big time points, except that Rat City had a counter strategy…foul the jammer and slow her down. First one blocker, then another blocker, and finally a third skater went to the box to join the Rat City jammer for major penalties. But each time the major penalty occurred; apparently the jammer was slowed down, as the clock was the real enemy of the Texas.

Because of the lack of skaters on the track, the officials stopped the clock, and put the minimum number of skaters back on the track. The major penalty stall by Seattle had worked. There was just too little time left for Texas to be able to score ten points and Rat City was able to go into a joyous celebration as the game clock ran out.

Unofficially, I have Trouble scoring the most for Texas with 25 points, being followed by Rice Rocket and Cat Tastrophe with 19 points. Rice and Belle Starr, along with Sparkle Plenty did a good job of blocking and holding Rat City scoring down, as much as possible with 305 total penalties being called during this match.

Top jammers for Rat City included Miss Fortune, Hideous Braxley, Drew Blood and Anna R Kissed. Rettig to Rumble, Pia Mess, and Da Bomb also did a superior job of blocking for the Seattle team.

Texas Wins Consolation Game 111-62 Over Kansas City

In the consolation game, Texas opened up a 42-19 lead after one period, and following ten shutout jams by the Texecutioners in the opening of Period 2, the defending national champs took a 79-31 at the end of the second twenty minutes. The last period was closer,
with Texas managing a 32-31 lead. The top scorer for Kansas City was Snot Rocket with an unofficial 30 points, and Fearlys with 12 points. Several Texas players scored in double figures including Bloody Mary with 17 points, Cat Tastrophe with 16, Lucille Brawl with 15 points, Rollin Sweet with 14, and Rice Rocket with a cool 13 points.

Bloody Mary, Rice Rocket, and Lucille Brawl also did a good job of blocking for Texas along with blocker Belle Starr for Texas. For Kansas City, Bruz-her and Red Ripper were two of the teams top blockers.

For Texas, with the win over Sin City, they qualified for the National Tournament, which will be held in Austin this fall. With the win over Kansas City, they will be the third seed from the West in the eight-team tournament. They will probably play either Minnesota or Madison, whichever team ends up being the second ranked team from the East.

For more photos, visit Phil's site, http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/RollerDerbyIsSport

Big Thanks to Phil & his Yahoo Group for collaborating with me & sharing with us this report. The ARGB truly hearts Phil!