2017 International WFTDA Championships Philadelphia Game 10: Angel City vs Rat City
Angel City Derby (#2) vs Rat City Roller Derby (#3)
Angel City Derby (Seed #2, WFTDA #4) of Los Angeles, USA, took the win over Rat City Roller Derby (Seed #3, WFTDA #12) of Seattle, USA, in game 10 of the the 2017 International WFTDA Championships Philadelphia, PA, 219-94.
Having played against each other at D1 Playoffs in Seattle, with a 224-142 win in favor of Angel City, both teams entered the championship weekend closely seeded and with recent on-track experience to drawn on.
Angel City made a strong start with 4 uncontested points for Satan’s Little Helper against Luna Negra in the first jam. Both teams used slow moving, braced walls rotating to restrict the space available to the jammers. Luna Negra picked up the first lead jam for Rat City in Jam 3 with an impressive one-footed toe stop spin along the line, but Satan’s Little Helper quickly broke through the pack forcing Luna to call the jam with a score of 18 to 13 in favor of Angel City.
Both teams played a relatively penalty-light game, but Angel City jammers had more success powering through walls, whereas Rat City relied on finding gaps and exploiting edges to release jammers from the tight blocking walls. Angel City favored the back line and crowded the Rat City Jammers to prevent the impact of any offensive. Both teams shared similar strategies with jammers frequently being driven off track with sweeping blows.
Laci Knight picked up a track cut on Carmen Getsome, giving Evergreen Jean a chance to pick up some uncontended points. Swarming defence from Angel City, however, limited the impact of the the power jam, but Jean managed passed on the outside line before picking up a back block just as Laci Knight was released from the pack.
Darby Dagger and Satan’s Little Helper had continued success with both fast and hard jamming. A power jam gave Rat City jammer CeeCee a scoring opportunity, but Angel City’s hold prevented any points from being scored and Darby Dagger managed to sneak past the Rat City wall to top up the points on the board. With 5 minutes to go in the first half, Luna secured the first lead jam in six with a fast acceleration up the line around the Angel blockers. The first half ended 103 to 53 in favor of Angel City with Darby Dagger putting 37 points on the board as the top-scoring jammer of the half.
One of the most common jammer pairings of the game saw the second half start with Luna Negra and Satan’s Little Helper on the track. Rat City picked up first lead of the game as a speedy juke gave Luna a clear pass up the outside line to pick up 3 points. As the half progressed both teams fell into defense-heavy formations, leaving jammers to fight their way through rotating packs.
Angel City jammer A. Pray picked up a cut, allowing Laci Knight to break through the pack and start scoring. A fully defensive wall from Angel City captured a blocker to the rear of the pack and left Laci Knight solo to find a way through the Rat City wall. Despite the power jam against them Rat City picked up 4 points for Angel’s 5.
Luna started the next jam with a depleted pack leaving no option for offence, but Rat City held back Darby Dagger until their blockers returned to track. With Rat City jammers spinning and toe stop hopping around the edges, Angel City was still able to catch the escaping jammer with fast reformation to the front of the pack.
With CeeCee wearing the star the Rat City Blockers moved to a fully defensive position, but Angel City was still able to pick up 15 points. Both packs tracked jammers across the full width of the track with frequent recycling and reformation testing their skills.
With 15 minutes remaining, Angel City continued to dominate with a lead of 163 to 75, Satan’s Little Helper picked up a 19-point jam as Rat City moved to defensive-heavy play that left their jammers struggling to find spaces in the Angel walls. In the final jams, Angel City adopted a similar strategy, but their jammers had more success by forcing holes in the Rat City walls and continued to pick up points while their blockers kept the point scoring low.
This was the final game of the weekend for both teams. Tune in to the championship game Sunday at 6 p.m. EST on ESPN3.
FINAL SCORE
Angel City Derby (Seed #2, WFTDA #4) Total Points 219
Rat City Roller Derby (Seed #4, WFTDA #12) Total Points 94
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