(PORTLAND, OR) It turned out to be a very productive weekend for the primary travel team of St. Louis-based Arch Rival Roller Derby as they competed at the Hometown Throwdown, hosted by the Rose City Rollers.
Alongside the Arch Rival All-Stars, the three-day tilt included four of the top six teams ranked internationally within the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).
ARCH, currently ranked fifth in the WFTDA, ended the event with a second place finish and, in the process, defeated a higher-ranked team on Saturday and stayed competitive with the sport’s defending champions Sunday.
After posting an opening-round win over the Rose City Rollers’ Axels of Annihilation (259-25) and a semifinal triumph over fourth-ranked Denver (174-72), Arch Rival suffered a 196-92 setback to the Rose City Rollers’ Wheels of Justice in the weekend finale.
With the 2-1 Throwdown finish, Arch Rival finishes their shortened 2022 campaign, their first in three seasons, with a 4-1 record.
Weekend play featured jamming from veterans Annie Swanson, Bricktator and Jedi Knight-N-Gale alongside newcomers Hart and Pork Tchoup Slamwich while blocking was paced by Shear-Ra Powers, Cloak N’ Drag-Her, Luxfurious, Vicious Van GoGo, Splatter, KWoo!, Bolt Action, Pegasass, Eirinn Go Brawl, Cruella Belle-ville, Birdsong and WyldeSyde.
The League returns to local play at Midwest Sport Hockey at Queeny Park in Ballwin in February 2023.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: ROSE CITY WHEELS OF JUSTICE 196 ARCH RIVAL ALL STARS 92
The highly-anticipated Sunday showdown between the pair of long-time adversaries saw St. Louis behind the eight-ball early as the defending champs rolled out to a 38-11 lead following Rose City jammer Alter Eagle’s 14-point power jam ten minutes in.
A 20-0 run by the Wheels of Justice pushed the score to 58-11 three minutes later punctuated by Bonnie Thunders’ dozen notched via the power jam.
Thanks to effective Rose City blocking, Arch Rival was held to minimal scoring in the first period and trailed 105-24 at intermission.
As rough as the opening stanza was, things picked up considerably in the second period as ARCH attempted to whittle away at the differential. Swanson’s 12-point jam in the sixth rotation gave the team their first double-digit strike of the game. She then added another 18 at the 19:00 mark that narrowed the score to 137-64.
Rose City quickly dashed the momentum on the next rotation as Thunders recorded another 12-point power jam that made the score 149-64.
As the period progressed, Arch Rival kept things interesting with more level play but the huge margin they faced at halftime was tough to get back into close range. Rose City outscored ARCH 91-68 in the second period, resulting in the Wheel of Justice’s 104-point victory and claiming Throwdown’s top prize. Rose City has won 18 straight consecutive games, dating back to November 2018.
Thunders finished with 76 points for Rose City while Swanson paced ARCH scoring with 36.
SEMIFINALS: ARCH RIVAL ALL STARS 174 DENVER MILE HIGH CLUB 72
ARCH’s most-impressive showing from Throwdown was their Saturday semifinal win over higher-ranked Denver, currently positioned one spot ahead in the WFTDA rankings.
Trailing 9-5 four jams in, Swanson recorded 15 points with 23:25 left in the period that resulted in a 20-9 scoreboard flip. As the period progressed, the differential widened. Knight-N-Gale’s dozen scored with 5:40 left pushed the score to 56-29.
Propelled by the aforementioned blocking, Arch Rival possessed a 71-37 lead at intermission.
St. Louis started the second period with a 14-0 rally, punctuated by Hart’s three-point strike during Jam 3 that extended the score to 85-37.
Momentum started swinging towards Denver’s way as they accumulated a 34-8 run over the next five minutes and had whittled the score to 97-71 with 19:15 left.
But as things were looking dicey for Arch Rival, their blocking collective went into lock down mode and held Denver to a solo point scored for the remainder of the game.
This resulted in a 77-1 finish and a sizable victory for ARCH. Featuring a pair of 11-point passes by Bricktator and Knight-N-Gale, Arch Rival pushed the score to 135-71 with 9:15 left that concluded a 48-0 run.
Arch Rival outscored Denver in the second period 103-35 en route to the 102-point margin of victory. Swanson paced ARCH scoring with 58 followed by Bricktator’s 56.
QUARTERFINALS: ARCH RIVAL ALL STARS 259 RCR AXELS OF ANNIHILATION 25
Originally scheduled for Friday night, Arch Rival’s first Throwdown contest against Rose City’s b-team was pushed to Saturday morning after a lengthy power outage at the venue Friday afternoon.
A good hearty breakfast certainly contributed to Arch Rival’s dominate performance. Leading 41-11 eleven minutes in, ARCH claimed six consecutive lead jams that resulted in a 66-0 run. Highlighted by Bricktator’s 21-point strike midway through the period and Swanson’s 20-point finisher with 8:10 left, Arch Rival extended the score to 107-11.
ARCH led at the half 124-17 and kept the momentum going in the second period’s opening rotations which produced a 26-0 rally. Following Knight-N-Gale’s five-point strike in Jam 4, Arch Rival pushed the score to 150-17.
Superior blocking continued ARCH’s dominance. A 57-0 mid-period run, concluded by Knight-N-Gale’s 20-point jam with 8:30 left, extended the score to 237-23.
Arch Rival outscored the Rose City b-team in the second period 135-8 to record the impressive 259-25 victory. Swanson topped ARCH scoring with 86 points followed by Bricktator’s 65, Knight-N-Gale’s 52 and Hart’s 28.
