Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
(IRVING, TX) Following a split in Saturday play at the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) Division 1 playoff held at Irving Convention Center, St. Louis-based Arch Rival Roller Derby (ARCH) finds the skaters competing at the weekend’s upcoming bronze medal game.
However, an early win netted the Missourians an automatic berth for the governing body’s international championships that will be later this year.
ARCH, the playoff’s third seed, claimed a 339-123 victory over sixth-seeded Queen City in a Saturday afternoon quarterfinal that results in St. Louis’ third straight appearance at the global finale.
Then later in the evening, Arch Rival fell to second-seeded Texas, 209-119, and were bounced to Sunday’s third-place game. ARCH will meet fourth-seeded Minnesota at 4 pm. Arch Rival will find out their future Hydra Cup tournament opponent when the WFTDA Championship bracket is constructed Sunday night.
Arch Rival, 5-5 and ranked eighth internationally by the WFTDA, saw solid blocking from veterans Shear-Ra Powers, Cloak N’ DragHer, Smarty McFly, Shimmy Hoffa, Salty, Jamheiser Bush, Kayla Woodward, Grant, Fletcher and CupQuake.
SATURDAY SEMIFINAL: TEXAS 209 ARCH RIVAL 119
Leading 19-12 after four jams, Texas’ Freight Train collected a 10-point power jam with 24:30 left in the first period that stretched the Lone Star State’s lead to 29-12. After Arch Rival jammer Bricktator helped slice the score to 29-16 with a four-point punch with 21:40 left in the frame.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
Texan vet Olivia Shootin’ John’s ten-point strike extended the score to 39-16 with twenty minutes remaining.
Jammer penalties continued to mount for both squads. ARCH was able to capitalize via Bolt Action’s nine-pointer power jam that narrowed the score to 44-25 then the script was flipped on the next rotation and John produced a nine-point retort that pushed the score to 53-25 with 14:20 left in the period.
Texas picked up their fourth power jam two rotations later, resulting in Train’s 10-point collection that widened the score to 63-30 with 11:15 left.
As the final minutes of the first half ticked away, Train’s 15-pointer collected with 6:30 pushed the score to 91-47 and with a 26-7 late-stretch run, the Texicutioners possessed an 117-54 advantage at intermission.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
ARCH picked up the pace in opening stages of the second and produced a 21-1 run and narrowed the score to 118-69 after Reptar snared a pair of points with under 24:00 left. Annie Swanson added six on the next rotation to make the score 118-75 at the 22:10 mark.
Texas recovered from the offensive drought and churned 28 points uncontested and widened their lead to 146-75 midway through the period.
A pair of Texas 20-point power jams – Train’s with a dozen minutes left and John’s that followed, pushed the differential to triple-digits.
Texas outscored Arch Rival, 92-62, in the second period to pick up the semifinal victory and a gold medal meeting with top-seeded Victorian, ranked first globally by the WFTDA, Sunday night.
SATURDAY QUARTERFINAL: ARCH RIVAL 339 Â Â QUEEN CITY 123
In the Saturday afternoon quarterfinal victory that punched their ticket to the WFTDA Championships, St. Louis scored early and often and delivered a lethal knockout midway through the second half en route to the overwhelming win over the Buffalo, New York-based Lake Effect Furies.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
Leading 28-7 after six jams, ARCH churned a 58-8 spread over the next three rotations. Book-ended by jams of 27 points by Swanson and 22 from Killerbruise, St. Louis’ lead blossomed to 86-19 with 17:35 left in the period. Psychokid D’ Freakout added a 14-8 rotation on the next flight that made the score 100-27.
Arch Rival possessed a 174-90 lead at intermission…but St. Louis was just warming up.
After stretching the score to 185-109 after the second period’s first five rotations, ARCH produced a mind-melting 125-1 run that overthrew Queen City.
Multi-lap passes became the norm during the stretch. Bolt Action’s 20-pointer was the highlight, which stretched Arch Rival’s lead to 248-109 with 14:10 remaining. When the dust had settled on the triple-digit roller romp, ARCH possessed a bi-centennial differential 310-110 with six minutes left.
Meanwhile, Arch Rival’s defense put the lock down on the New Yorkers, limiting them to about a third of the points they earned in the first half. St. Louis outscored Queen City 165-33 in the second period to post the 216-point quarterfinal duke.
Killerbruise finished the game with 88 points, followed by 76 and 74, respectively from Bricktator and Swanson.
Sunday’s game can be heard online for free at WFTDA.tv.
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Arch City Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews.
