Great Brawls of Fire Recap

The Ohio Roller Girls hosted their first-ever playoff bout, “Great Brawls of Fire” on August 13, 2006. A large group of fans dressed to support their favorite teams and visitors from at least four other flat track roller derby leagues were in attendance. There was a palpable tension in Battelle Hall by the time The Voice revved everyone’s engines with “… Let’s Get Ready to Rumble.” Everyone could tell it was going to be intense.

The first bout of the night featured the undefeated Take-Outs verses the winless Sprockettes. The first period started out with flair as Pippi RipYourStockings of The Take-outs flew through the pack to pull in 7 points and Drrty Grrl of the Sprockettes garnished a strong 4 points. Early in the first half, Luna ChickEN led the charge to the first lead change of the night while the Sprockettes defense held Scarlette Fury to a single point. The Take-Outs captain Pippi quickly regained the lead while her team’s pack held Drrty scoreless the very next jam. The real story of the first period was the Take-outs defense: they held the Sprockettes back with six scoreless jams. Take-Outs jammer Foxy Force led the first period point totals with 29.

The second period started with a tough blow as Drrty went down in the first jam injured (no worries--she would return later). The Sprockettes defense came in with some seriously strong blocking and hitting. LivingDeadGirl and Jackie-Oh! made it tough for the Take-Outs, holding them to 29 points the entire period. Eve ILL DeMEANor and Ruby Doom returned the favor, landing some big hits on Luna ChickEN and the Sprockettes’ other jammers. Although the Sprockettes threw their heart and soul into the second period it was not enough to recover from the deficit they started with and the Take-Outs won with a dominating 84 points to the Sprockettes 54.

The second bout of the night was all about fire, in the form of brutal hits. The Band of Brawlers were pitted against the Blackeye Bullies in this second play-off bout. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people in a penalty box in my life! Holly Hotwheels and Pixie Lust had their work cut out for them as the penalty mistresses for this massacre.

The first period started out with a real bang, pitting captain vs. captain. Despite a hard hit from Barracuda, Meg O’ Death got the Brawlers started with a hard earned 8 points to Barracuda’s 6. From that point on it was all about defense, defense, defense. Early on, the Bullies’ Barracuda and Violet Crime started the hard-hitting defense with a couple of stiff blows to Sid Vixxxen. But Sid proved to be one tough jammer as she pulled out the most points in the first period with 11. Andie WarHaulAss was in at jammer for the Bullies three times and took a beating from Brawlers blockers Killa Fitzgerald and Dana Skullbeat. The first period ended in a tie with both teams scoring just 23 points.

The second period turned out to be just as mean as the first. Hell Camino and Barracuda kept doling out the hits for the Bullies, trying their best to prevent the Brawlers jamming core from scoring. Andie WarHaulAss showed pure speed at the jammer spot taking 27 points from the Brawlers! At the start of the period it looked like the Brawlers might have a hard time after giving up 10 points in one jam to Andie WarHaulAss and having tough blocker Mia Slamm ejected from the game. But Meg O’ Death and Gypsy Warfare really stepped up to the track to take 19 and 17 points respectively from the Bullies. The Band of Brawlers showed how well they play under pressure in this skating slug fest and captured a well earned victory with a 67 to 55 win over a very tough Bullies team.

Columbus got to see some rough and tumble derby action like no other league can deliver! Next month, on September 10 at Battelle Hall in the Columbus Convention Center, the very first OHRG Championship will be held. The Blackeye Bullies will be facing the Sprockettes for third place, in what is bound to be a good bout. The Band of Brawlers will be taking on the still undefeated Take-Outs for the Ohio Roller Girls Championship. One thing is for sure--it will be the most exciting double-header this season. Come join us for the greatest derby action in the Midwest!