2019 Championships Game 13: Gotham v Rose City

Gotham Girls Roller Derby (Seed #2) Rose City Rollers (Seed #1)

See Game Details on stats.wftda.com

Some are asking if the Rose City Rollers of Portland, Oregon, U.S. (Seed #1, WFTDA #1) are the Greatest of All Time or GOAT. There’s not a definitive answer to this yet, but Sunday they played their own game against Gotham Girls Roller Derby of New York City, New York, U.S. (Seed #2, WFTDA #3) in the final game of the International WFTDA 2019 Championships in Montréal, Canada.

Rose City’s Wheels of Justice controlled GGRD All-Stars for most of the game, coming out with quick leads, making opposing jammers push entire walls or sleds of skaters around the entirety of the track, without being able to score a single point.

When talking about the GOAT teams and players, all that needs to be said is that spiders are scary. Perhaps none scarier than the blocker Tarantula and partner on the track Simonis. Anyone with a healthy fear of spiders should be aware of Rose’s Tarantula, as this blocker was all over the track. Along with Simonis and Tenacity, they were able to open inside and outside lanes to allow their jammers like Bonnie Thunders and Loren Mutch to take one side and close the opposing lane when challenged by Gotham’s jammers Beauty Andie Beast, The Smacktivist, Space Invader, and Kate Sera Sera.

In Jam 4 of the first half, Loren Mutch put up 14 points with a power jam while holding The Smackivist scoreless, which is something most teams have been unable to do this Champs weekend. This allowed Rose to take a 22-6 lead.

One highlight for Gotham early in the game was in Jam 6 when Beauty Andie Beast took an old-style whip off the jersey of Violet Knockout and scored a quick four points forcing Beyond ThunderDame to call off the jam.

At halftime, the score was 70-29 in favor of the Wheels of Justice. Bonnie Thunders had a team high of 31 points as she was able to make quick work of becoming lead jammer 67 percent of the time. Gotham’s The Smacktivist was held to 13 points but received lead jammer status 83 percent of the time. Beauty Andie Beast also had eight points for the half as well.

In Jam 1 of the second half, Kate Sera Sera, jamming against Loren Mutch, was quick to get lead and score eight points. Sadly though for Gotham, much of the time their jammers were braided back into the pack once they were freed of it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4-3_AojFUL/

In Jam 11 Bonnie Thunders snagged lead jammer status, scoring eight points, in part because of that sneakily, agile Tarantula and Tenacity duo which forced Gotham’s jammer to pass the helmet cover.

Gotham’s blockers worked hard too, holding back Rose’s jammers on multiple occasions in which either no one scored or a full two minutes would pass without a lead jammer being earned. Blockers like tournament MVP Bonita Apple Bomb, Yeti or Not, Here I Come, and team captain Roxy Dallas all made sure each point scored was definitely earned.

In six of the last seven jams, Gotham was held scoreless while Rose City jammers Bonnie Thunders, Eve Anne Hellical and Zip threw up 19 points. Rose’s blockers really knew how to put on the scare like spiders, sticking together and spinning a webby game of their own making. The final score does not accurately depict the intensity with which each team played. The Hydra would return home to Portland and live there for a second year in a row and the fourth time in five years.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4-_VLpHvG1/

Visit 2019 International WFTDA Championships Tournament Central