(NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TX) The perpetual history book of St. Louis-based GateKeepers Roller Derby can add another entry following its gold medal victory Sunday night in the finale of the Men’s Roller Derby Association (MRDA) post-season tournament held at NYTEX Sports Centre.
It reads “back-to-back championships.”
Photo Credit: Art Chastain
This comes after the GateKeepers, the defending MRDA kingpin, topped second-seeded Your Mom Men’s Derby (Des Moines, IA) 165-129 in the trophy tussle at “LoneStar Showdown.”
With the victory, the flat-trackers finished its season perfect at 12-0 and pushed its sanctioned winning streak to 21 games.
Trailing 11-0 after the opening rotation, St. Louis rolled out a three-jam, 18-point sprint as Corey Porter collected a five-point power jam, Shane Bower added four and ScreechAround’s nine-pointer claimed at the 24:14 mark resulted in a 18-11 scoreboard flip in favor of the GateKeepers.
Des Moines responded with 16 points uncontested, accented by Rollomite’s 13-pointer scored with 22:30 left in the period that handed the lead back to Your Mom, 27-18.
Photo Credit: Art Chastain
The Iowans stretched the advantage to 36-23 over the next two jams. Then GateKeepers’ blockers Spin Diesel, Bled Zeppelin, Wrecking Bill and Monster Jam helped Bower collect nine points with 17:15 left to whittle the Des Moines lead to three points, 36-32.
By netting four consecutive lead jams, resulting in an 11-4 stretch, Your Mom widened the score to 47-36 with 12:30 remaining.
St. Louis narrowed the score to 47-43 following Bower’s seven-point tally at the 11:20 mark but Des Moines answered with ten straight, finished by Scott Slamilton’s eight-pointer with nine minutes left that pushed the margin to 57-43.
The double-digit differential quickly evaporated as St. Louis jammer Magnum P.I.M.P., assisted by the aforementioned blocking quartet, amassed 14 points with 7:20 left and the championship game was tied, 57-57.
But things were just starting to warm-up as St. Louis began capitalizing on Des Moines penalties and continued to hold Your Mom scoreless for the remainder of the period.
Porter’s four-pointer on the next rotation handed the lead back to the GateKeepers, 61-47. Bower notched a nine-pointer with 5:35 left to blossom the score to 69-57. Via a pair of Iowan jammer penalties, Magnum notched nine with 4:50 left that widened the score to 78-57. ScreechAround collected five on the period’s penultimate jam and Porter posted a dozen to conclude the half.
Have mercy! Aided by the stellar work by blockers Percy Controll, Double Excel, The Saint, The Doc and Hulk, the GateKeepers’ 52-0 run in the last six jams gave the defending champs a 95-57 lead at intermission.
Photo Credit: Art Chastain
The momentum carried over into the second period as Magnum’s seven-point launcher and Bower’s grand slam in jam 2 pushed the score to 107-57 at the 27:20 mark.
Des Moines finally snapped its scoreless drought by notching three consecutive lead jams that yielded 29 uncontested points. Mr. E. Machine’s 15-point tally was followed by four from kamakanje and with Rollomite’s ten scored with 22:00, Your Mom narrowed the score to 107-86.
St. Louis got back into the scoring column as Bower’s eight-point strike with 20:00 remaining widened the score to 115-86.
The GateKeepers pushed the margin to 132-90 following Porter’s nine-point rotation with 16:30 remaining.
The Iowans refused to wave the white flag and with Rollomite’s 20-point rotation with 14:00 left, Des Moines shored the deficit to 132-110 with 14:00 left.
Photo Credit: Art Chastain
As time in the half continued to roll, the GateKeepers began to pull away by gaining lead jammer status on a majority of the ensuing rotations and secured trophy triumph with 4:30 left with Magnum’s nine-point power jam.
Des Moines led in team scoring in the second half, 72-70, but the differential accumulated at halftime stuck and St. Louis claimed the 165-129 duke and its second straight MRDA title. Magnum paced GateKeepers’ scoring with 58 points followed by Bower’s 42.
Your Mom Men’s Derby, who finishes MRDA runner-up for the second straight year, was paced by Rollomite’s 84 points.
Photo Credit: Art Chastain
GateKeepers’ jammer Corey Porter was awarded “Most Valuable Jammer” for the weekend tournament.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
GATEKEEPERS ROLLER DERBY (165): Magnum P.I.M.P. 58, Shane Bower 42, Corey Porter 39, SreechAround 22, Sir Nixalot 4.
For more information on GateKeepers Roller Derby, go to its official Facebook page.
The league now prepares for its three-team local season, alongside its “sisters in derby” Arch Rival Roller Derby, which launches December 10 at Midwest Sport Hockey in Ballwin.
