Bout recap by:
Justice Feelgood Marshall - America's Referee
Head Ref, Charm City Roller Girls
Night Terrors 57, Speed Regime 55
The Speed Regime entered the championship game as huge favorites over the 2-3 Night Terrors. Not only was the Speed Regime sporting an undefeated 5-0 record, they'd trounced the Night Terrors in their previous matchup in June, winning by a lopsided 96-55 margin. Given the Regime's increasingly convincing domination of the entire league -- they'd won their last three games by 41 points, 35 points and 44 points -- Baltimore derby fans would have been forgiven for expecting another blowout. But they got something very different indeed.
It was clear from the first few jams of the night that the Night Terrors were going to give the Speed Regime their toughest test of the season, as they battled back-and-forth for the entirety of the first half. (This in itself was something surprising -- throughout the season, the Speed Regime had never trailed after the third jam!) The Terrors kept the lead for the first five jams before relinquishing it on Jam 6, when Speed Regime's Betty Beatdown got 6 points to Mexican Fury's 0 and made it Speed Regime 20, Night Terrors 17. The Terrors kept it extremely close for the rest of the half, never letting the Regime pull more than seven points ahead. When the Mexican Fury beat Buzz Kill 3-0 on the last jam of the half to bring the score to Night Terrors 32, Speed Regime 31, everybody in Skateland knew that they were watching a classic in the making.
The second half had a much different dynamic. The Speed Regime took the lead back on the second jam of the second half, making it 39-38 Speed Regime, and then their defense just smothered the Terrors. On the following 8 jams, the Terrors were shut out 7 times while the Speed Regime kept adding one or two points almost every jam, slowly pulling further and further away. With about three minutes to play, it pretty much looked like it was over, with Speed Regime up by eleven points, 53-42, and the Terrors only having scored 10 points all half long. But on the second-to-last jam, Mexican Fury gave the Terrors some life, putting up 5 points to Buzz Kill's 0. That made it 53-47 with just a minute to go, and the Terrors fans, never the restrained type, let their team know they still had a chance.
Skateland had been rocking all game long, but as Joy Collision lined up to jam for the Night Terrors against Pistol Whip for the Speed Regime, the place was a complete madhouse, with every last man, woman and child on their feet and screaming. The last jam started -- and then was immediately whistled dead, as the Terrors had too many skaters on the rink! After a quick referee timeout to straighten out the situation, the jam started in earnest with four Speed Regime girls on the floor against three Night Terrors. The dearth of skaters on the floor actually worked in the nimble Joy Collision's favor, as she was able to exploit the larger holes in the pack to zip through nearly untouched. Meanwhile, the Night Terrors' Pixie Rocket, who was lead blocking, did a stellar job of holding back Pistol Whip, singlehandedly keeping her trapped in the pack for almost two full laps and giving Joy the opportunity to pick up a crucial grand slam point on her. With no lead jammer, and the game set to end on the jam clock rather than the game clock, it was a full two minutes of nail-biting suspense before the whistle blew to signal the end of the jam, and the end of the game.
The building had been deafeningly loud for the last 40 minutes, but it became almost completely silent as everybody waited to hear if the Night Terrors had managed to pick up the 6 points they needed to tie. When the score for the jam was announced -- Night Terrors 10, Speed Regime 2 -- utter pandemonium reigned in Skateland! Fans rushed the Terrors bench, tackling the deliriously happy new champions, Joy Collision was hoisted atop their shoulders, and announcers Jimmy Valentine and Dirty Marty came down to the infield to present the Terrors with the trophy. It may not have been televised, it might not have hit the front pages the next day, but everybody who was in Skateland at that moment knew they'd just witnessed one of the most dramatic conclusions to any championship game in any sport. The Night Terrors became the first-ever CCRG league champions with a genuinely unbelievable 57-55 comeback win over the previously undefeated Speed Regime.
It was a truly heartbreaking loss for the Speed Regime, who seemed absolutely unstoppable all season long, and who almost completely controlled the second half of the championship game until those last two jams, but they were graceful in defeat, congratulating the Night Terrors on being a part of the best game of the season. Team scoring leaders in the game were Joy Collision for the Night Terrors, who put up 34 points on 10 jams, while the Speed Regime was led by Pistol Whip, who was responsible for 18 points on 6 jams. Although it was small comfort at the time, Speed Regime's star jammer Betty Beatdown finished off a remarkable statistical achievement with her performance in this game -- over the course of the season, she outscored her opposing jammers by exactly 100 points.
Mobtown Mods 90, Junkyard Dolls 50
In the third-place game, the 2-3 Mobtown Mods were on a Mobtown mission. The last time they'd met the 1-4 Junkyard Dolls, it had ended in the only overtime game of the season, an 57-55 squeaker that stood as the only Junkyard Dolls win of the season. Mods team captain Ivana E. Chabrains and company were out for revenge, and it showed.
The Mobtown Mods' signature one-two jammer combination of the bruiser Lady Quebeaum and the agile Dissin'Kari was augmented this time by the tenacious Schiesty McFeisty. The three of them combined to jump all over the Dolls in the opening jams of the contest. By Jam 7, the Mods were up by a shocking 41-14 margin, as they consistently crossed up the Dolls' defense with the wildly different styles of their jammers. The Dolls mounted a bit of resistance at the very end of the first half, with Annabell Lechter scoring 4 points while Scheisty McFeisty scored 0 and Sizzle-Leen following that up by scoring 2 points while Lady Quebeaum was shut out, putting the score at Mods 41, Dolls 20 going into the half.
To get back in the game, the Dolls needed to come out of the gate very strong in the second half, but the Mods would have none of it. They continued to exploit their speed advantage over the Dolls, and the Dolls had no answer for the attack. About five minutes into the half, Dissin'Kari put up a 13 to 8 jam over Shevil Knievel that brought the score to Mods 64, Dolls 37, and it seemed like that jam knocked the fight out of the wrecking crew -- for the rest of the half, only Annabell Lechter was able to put up any points at all for the Dolls. In the end, the Mobtown Mods vanquished the Junkyard Dolls 90 to 50, staking a convincing claim to third place to end their season.
Team scoring leaders in the game were Shevil Knievel for the Dolls with 23 points on 7 jams, and Lady Quebeaum for the Mods with 45 points on 9 jams. As the two most-often-used jammers on the league, Quebeaum and teammate Dissin'Kari had been in a friendly competition for the league scoring lead all season long, and Quebeaum ended up edging Kari out, collecting 239 points on the season to Kari's 224.
Charm City Referees 33, Pioneer Valley 30
Halftime featured something very different and yet very similar, as the boys of Pioneer Valley Roller Derby came all the way down from Northampton, Massachusetts to battle it out with the Charm City referees in what was the very first interleague flat-track scrimmage featuring a male team! While Pioneer Valley fielded an all-male team led by captain and league co-founder Bazooka Joe, the Charm City referees played with two female referees, Craftabitch and Deathany. The dynamic was a little different, but the game was the same as the boys (and girls!) went at it for 15 minutes in front of a raucous crowd.
It was an exceedingly tight game, with neither team able to establish more than a 6 point lead. The teams traded the lead for the first two jams, and then on Jam 3 Justice Feelgood Marshall gave the Charm City referees a 14-10 lead with a flashy 7 to 1 jam over Big McLargeHuge. It was a lead the referees would protect for the rest of the game from a furious Pioneer Valley assault. Heavy blocking from Crash Daily and Davy Jones of PVRD was met in kind by H.R. Rufnstuf and Thor Gasm of Charm City. On Jam 5, PVRD's Dr. Spankenstein scored 5 points to Colin Fouls' 3, and that narrowed the score to Charm City Referees 21, Pioneer Valley 19 with about 5 minutes to play. However, Justice Feelgood Marshall immediately helped the refs pull away again with a pivotal 7-3 jam over The Rev. There wasn't quite enough time for PVRD to close the gap, and the referees emerged victorious in a historic matchup, hanging on to win 33-30. Team scoring leaders were Justice Feelgood Marshall for the Charm City Referees, with 14 points on 2 jams, and Warhammer for Pioneer Valley, with 8 points on 1 jam.
