(ST. PETERS, MO) As far as home openers go, it was about as successful as the St. Chux Derby Chix could have hoped and prepared for.
Propelled by a 112-0 rally that launched the second half, the St. Charles County-based Pack In Black, currently ranked #57 internationally by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), demolished #30 Demolition City, 345-118, in an non-sanctioned match-up Saturday night at Matteson Square Garden.
Although the weekend’s result did not apply to either squad’s calculated rank, the game was still important to SCDC, who had not played since last August. Its 227-point victory over a league that collected a bronze medal at last year’s Division 2 international finale was certainly eye-opening.
“We didn’t know what to expect, but we didn’t expect it to go that well,” said St. Chux captain Jedi Knight-N-Gale afterwards. “We were pretty surprised because they did so well last year. Maybe it was all the retirements they had.”
Truth be told, the captain’s assessment was on point. The Evansville, Indiana-based franchise entered Saturday’s exhibition with a revamped roster affected by skaters hanging up the quads after the 2015 post-season. But in the world of competitive flat-track derby, a league can’t rest on past success. How a team performs in the “here and now” is what matters most and St. Chux made the most with its more-seasoned line-up from the first whistle.
After Knight-N-Gale’s nine-point opening jam, blocker-turned- jammer Pixie Dust-Ruction posted a 18-3 rotation to push the Pack In Black’s lead to 27-3 three minutes in.
Demolition City sliced into the deficit over the next three jams, posted a 13-1 run, and narrowed the score to 28-16 following Bangs McCoy’s four-point tally with 23:50 left in the period.
Knight-N-Gale notched nine in Jam 6 for St. Chux and Dust-Ruction followed with 13 via the power jam at the 21:30 mark that extended the Pack in Black’s advantage to 50-16.
Demo countered with a 16-5 rotation from McCoy that narrowed the score to 55-32 with 19:00 left in the half.
SCDC then put the pedal to the metal as Knight-N-Gale scored a jaw-dropping 48-point jam that pushed the score to 98-36 with 16:30 left in the period.
You read that last sentence right. 48 points achieved by St. Chux in 120 seconds.
The Pack In Black’s groundswell of scoring was paced by the solid walls configured by blockers Tara Eyes, Whip L’Ash, Zo D. Ax, 50 Shades of Pink, Big Red, Zombie F-Bomb, Judy Boom, Blue Collar Brawler, Slaughterhaus and Calamity Cat.
“Overall, I think they played really well,” said Knight-N-Gale of her blocking battalion. “They helped me get a lot of offense. The longer the held the other jammer, the more points I could score.”
The aforementioned sistren helped Knight-N-Gale collect a 24-3 power jam with six minutes left in the half that extended the Pack in Black’s lead to 145-62.
The dominance continued for the rest of the frame as St. Chux sported a 162-79 lead at intermission following Darth Maully’s 13-point jam.
As impressive as that output was for SCDC in the first period, no one, not even the Pack in Black, could have predicted the thunderbolts and haymakers delivered in the second half.
From the first whistle, St. Chux notched 10 consecutive lead jams and inevitably churned a 112-0 rally that spanned fourteen minutes.
After Knight-N-Gale’s 24-point strike that launched the half, Dust-Ruction added eight to push the score to 194-79. Sha’Killa and Maully posted back-to-back four-pointers as SCDC passed the bicentennial mark on the scoreboard, 202-79 with 24:30 left in the game.
Knight-N-Gale collected 34 via the power jam with 22:30 left to keep the onslaught intact. As the rally continued, St. Chux held Demolition City scoring to a goose-egg. In fact, the visitors failed to notch a point until midway through the second half.
“We did that?” said Knight-N-Gale of SCDC’s buzz saw. “I didn’t even notice that!”
The surge concluded with Dust-Ruction’s five-pointer at the 16:05 mark that swelled the SCDC lead to 274-79.
Demolition City bravely tried to keep pace as the period progressed, but after signs of life were shown, ensuing penalties continued to dig their hole deeper.
St. Chux eclipsed tri-centennial status with seven minutes remaining as Maully’s 23-8 jam widened the game to 305-102.
SCDC outscored DCRD, 183-39, in the second half en route to the 345-118 exhibition win. All uncertainties heading into the weekend are more on the radar now as the Pack in Black heads into WFTDA-sanctioned play next month.
“We now know how we work together as a team and against another team,” assessed Knight-N-Gale, who finished with 191 points. “We can take that and fine tune it. Switching from offense to defense is always a pretty big key, so that’s something that we’re going to keep working on.”
Dust-Ruction, making her full-time jammer debut, added 82 points while Maully added 59. McCoy topped Demolition City scoring with 51.
St. Chux returns to Matteson Square Garden on Saturday, March 26. For more information, go to stchuxderbychix.com.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
ST. CHUX DERBY CHIX (345): Jedi Knight-N-Gale 191, Pixie Dust-Ruction 82, Darth Maully 59, Sha’Killa 13, Calamity Cat 4.
