(BALLWIN, MO) The primary travel squad of the Arch Rival Roller Girls utilized an early 39-0 rally en route to victory Saturday night at Midwest Sport Hockey and kept its spotless record intact.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
St. Louis, currently ranked #20 internationally by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), topped unranked Des Moines United Roller Derby, 180-142.
By no means was victory easy. Arch Rival (5-0) staved a hard-charge from the Iowans late to remain undefeated historically (17-0) at Queeny Park. The 38-point duke helped keep the team firmly entrenched in the governing body’s calculated rankings of leagues.
Most importantly, the win served as payback for a 100-point setback to Des Moines twelve months ago.
“Outside of the rankings calculator and what we’re looking to do this season, this game meant a lot to us because of last year,” said Arch Rival’s Emily Rinehart, who received the “MVP Blocker” award afterwards. “Des Moines came and played us (at our practice facility) and absolutely whooped us. They are easily one of the hardest–hitting teams I’ve ever played.”
And true to physical form, Des Moines Saturday night posted the highest points collected against Arch Rival this year. Heading into the contest, St. Louis kept opponents to a cumulative average of under 70 points through four games.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
Des Moines was ripe for an another upset over another WFTDA Top 20 league as they had topped #11 Windy City in an unsanctioned game two weeks prior.
Rinehart felt the Arch Rival weekend win was beneficial for its upcoming three-game itinerary at the “Spring Roll” invitational in two weeks, where they will face #29 Toronto, #31 Dallas and #36 Calgary.
“We learned a lot about ourselves tonight that’s really going to translate into how we need to play going forward,” she said.
St. Louis came out the gates fast and posted 14 with a power jam by Brickyard on the opening rotation. A three-point jam from Annie Swanson and Bricktator’s four-pointer thereafter pushed the lead to 21-0 with 26:30 left in the period.
After Des Moines’ Lolo Gunz collected five points on jam four, Arch Rival launched the aforementioned 39-point run. Accented by Bricktator’s 19-point strike in jam eight and concluded by Mighty Mighty Boston’s nine-point tally on the ensuing jam, St. Louis stretched its lead to 60-5 with 19:05 left in the period.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
“We definitely talked in the locker room about how we wanted to come out swinging and essentially make a statement,” said Rinehart of the rally. “Our whole season this year is about making a statement and we’re trying to do that jam-by-jam. We have really tightened things down defensively. Probably some of the best defense that ARRG has ever seen.”
Arch Rival held a 71-9 edge with 13:00 left in the half, but Des Moines surged with a five-jam, 36-0 run that tightened the game. Highlighted by EnerGEEzer Bunny’s 20-pointer in jam 16, Des Moines cut the deficit to 26 points, 71-45 with 6:30 left in the half.
As a result of the visitors’ stretch run, St. Louis called a time out and re-grouped. The “settle down” inevitably helped and Brickyard collected 19 points with 5:20 left that widened the score to 90-45. The scoring was even up to the period’s conclusion and Arch Rival held a 102-57 advantage at intermission.
St. Louis scored 22 points straight to start the second period. Brickyard’s 14 were followed by Bricktator’s eight, which pushed ARRG’s advantage to 124-57.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
Paced by the solid blocking of the aforementioned Rinehart, Chewblocka, Mayor Francis Slayer, Shimmy Hoffa, Party Foul, Kayla Seiber, Jamheiser Bush, Ninja Sass ‘Em, Grave Danger and Cloak N’ Dragher, Arch Rival maintained a 134-76 lead with 20:25 left to play.
However, Des Moines charged back to make the contest a tussle. Gunz’s 18-2 strike in jam eight narrowed the score to 136-94 with 18:55 remaining. A St. Louis 16-5 run over the next three jams extended the margin to 53 points, 152-99 midway through the frame.
Lolli Pop Ya notched ten points for Des Moines in jam 12 to help to cut the score to 152-109 with 13:00 remaining.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
Arch Rival countered with an 18-2 sprint. Following Swanson’s six-pointer scored with 8:15 left, St. Louis’ lead grew to 170-111.
Refusing to surrender, Des Moines collected a 24-point strike via Pop Ya’s five scoring passes and pulled to within 35 points, 170-135, with 6:30 left. Five jams later, the Iowans narrowed the score to 172-142.
Facing a potential “gut-check” situation with two jams left, Arch Rival notched lead jammer status on both ensuing rotations and scored back-to-back four-pointers to secure victory.
“I said in the locker room that the ARRG of yesteryear would have fallen apart,” said Rinehart. “We’ve had a tendency in the past to not only get negative on ourselves but on each other. But it’s a whole different team this season and a lot of the things that we were saying to ourselves were to take it jam-by-jam and play our game.”
Arch Rival was tested mightily by the Iowans (2-1) in the second period but prevailed, 180-142, to pick up its fifth straight win. The ending narrative for the locals was to be proactive, rather than reactive, when facing adversity throughout.
“Playing our game is a huge focus this season,” Rinehart said. “Making people come to us, making them adjust to us versus having to change our game to match what they do. Really, when we start to get frazzled, we remind each other to play our game and it seems to be working.”
Brickyard, who was awarded “MVP Jammer” for the contest, paced St. Louis scoring with 92 points, followed by Bricktator’s 52.
UNOFFICIAL SCORING
ARCH RIVAL ROLLER GIRLS (180): Brickyard 92, Bricktator 52, Annie Swanson 25, Mighty Mighty Boston 10.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
In the b-team game that followed, ARRG’s Saint Lunachix improved to 2-1 on the season with a 228-131 victory over the Des Moines Blue Ribbon Bullies. The locals sported a 112-60 lead at intermission and outscored the Iowans in the second period, 116-71, for the triumph.
For more information on the Arch Rival Roller Girls, go to archrivalrollergirls.com.
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.
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[…] intriguing is the fact that both teams have already faced each other earlier this season. On May 2, St. Louis topped Des Moines, 180-142, at Ballwin’s Midwest Sport Hockey by capitalizing on a 39-0 early […]
[…] ranked #20 at the time, and the unranked Des Moines team struggled a bit to get started, with a 71-9 deficit a quarter way into the bout. They proved however, as they have against others like Rocky Mountain, […]
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