ENFIELD, CT -- The first rematch between Baltimore, MD's Harm City Homicide and Northhampton, MA's Pioneer Valley Dirty Dozen started out being eerily similar to their original matchup. Once again, the Homicide would take a small lead into halftime; once again, the home team would come storming back to open the second half; and once again Homicide would give up a lot of unanswered points during a multi-jam jammer penalty.

This time, though, a more poised Homicide didn't let the lead get out of hand, and the final result was a true back-and-forth thriller. Neither team would ever lead by more than 13 points, and the Homicide managed to momentarily reclaim the lead and keep themselves in a position to win in the final seconds -- but would fall short on the last jam to suffer their fourth straight loss, 80-73.

The Dirty Dozen came into the bout as the Dirty Ten, missing A-list jammer Jurasskick Park, but a clutch performance from Davy Jones at the jam line, along with the steady play of captain Dr. Spankenstein, gave Pioneer Valley just enough daylight to win.

First Half

In the bout's leadoff jam, it momentarily looked like Homicide might be overmatched, as Dr. Spankenstein went up against Justice Feelgood Marshall and collected lead jammer and a lap point before Justice was out of his opening pass -- but the Homicide defense closed up, letting Justice repass Spankenstein, complete his own scoring pass and turn what might have been a huge leadoff jam into a relatively benign 8-4. On the next jam, Homicide captain Virginia pulled lead and accelerated away from opposing jammer Davy Jones for a textbook 4-0 that tied it up at 8.

PVRD got a small lead back on the following jam, as Spankenstein and Justice went at it again and came out of the pack together -- with more Homicide players in the back, though, Spankenstein was able to snatch a quick 3-1.

The next two jams would go scoreless. With the score 11-9, PVRD caught a break on jam 4 -- Deustch Bag, jamming for the Homicide, was awarded lead after a long battle to get his opening pass, but incorrectly thought that his opponent Davy Jones had already broken the pack, so called it at 0-0. That'd be followed by yet another Spankenstein-Justice duel in which Spankenstein cut off the action before scoring could occur.

Jam 6 threatened to be a turning point in favor of the home team -- in the first appearance of the night for either jammer, PVRD's Bazooka Joe followed solid blocking to a 11-3 win over Hung Solo, and the Dirty Dozen had their first double-digit lead of the bout at 22-12.

It would be short-lived, though. The inexhaustible Dr. Spankenstein (who'd jammed 4 out of the opening 7 at this point) went back to the line to tie Virginia Slim 4-4, and then Homicide would rally hard, managing to consistently get lead jammer in the last 10 minutes of the half and cut off jams just barely before Pioneer Valley could get on the board.

It started with Deutsch Bag going 4-1 over Davy Jones and then Justice dropping a 4-0 on The Rev. Two jams later, D-Bag would get a 3-1 win over Dr. Spankenstein -- narrowing the PVRD lead to 28-27 -- and then Justice would get the Homicide's first multi-pass jam of the night, lapping Davy Jones to go 7-0 and put the Homicide ahead for the first time, 34-28. They'd narrowly extend that lead to 42-32 by the half.

Second Half

Over the course of the first half's last six jams, Homicide had gone on a 31-6 run, and seemed to have all the momentum going into the break, but it was a completely different story as the second half opened. Spankenstein yet again got the better of Justice in a 4-0 opener, and then the second jam of the half was the biggest frame of the evening, as Davy Jones ran circles around the track as the Homicide pack, focused on helping spring their jammer Deutsch Bag, failed to see Davy's approach.

At the end of that jam, Davy had put up a 14-0 spot, and even more dangerously, D-Bag would be in the box to start the next jam, which Bazooka Joe quickly won 5-0 and called off to keep Bag in the box for another critical jam start. In just three jams, Pioneer Valley had put up an unanswered 23 points, and Homicide had gone from a 10 point lead to a 13 point deficit at 55-42.

Fortunately for the visitors, the jammer penalty situation quickly changed. Deutsch Bag was freed from the box in time to claim lead jammer in the following jam, while Davy Jones would find himself heading off to the box. That led to a 8-0 Homicide win that put the brakes on the Dirty Dozen rally, narrowing the score to 55-50.

Still, though, Homicide was looking a little rattled, unable to claim lead over the next three jams and losing a little bit of ground each time. With about 10 minutes left to play, the Dirty Dozen held a 62-52 lead as The Rev came to the line to jam against Deutsch Bag. That jam would end in significant controversy, as the Rev managed to get lead jammer, collect his fourth minor, get whistled off the track for his fourth minor, but still successfully call off the jam at 0-0.

Receiving a major for that infraction, he'd end up in the box as the jammer for a full two minutes to start the next jam, which was just the opportunity the Homicide needed. Justice Feelgood Marshall was able to get two grand slams against a light pack  -- but in going for his third scoring pass, found himself being sent to the box on his own fourth minor. The power jam would end early on the jammerless jam, and the Homicide would have to content themselves with having tied the game up at 62.

Virginia Slim was very fast to put down a 4-0 on Crash Daily as the blockers took the stars, giving the lead back to Homicide, 66-62. The following jam would start in a very confusing manner, as Sin Diesel, jamming for the Homicide, false-started against Dr. Spankenstein -- and though Sin immediately yielded advantage and waited, the referees never blew the second whistle, causing the jam to comically disintegrate as the pack ended up lapping the waiting jammers. The jam would be eventually be whistled dead and restarted, whereupon Spankenstein scored an 8-4 over Sin that tied the game up at 70 with only about 5 minutes to play.

With a small but passionate crowd going wild, Davy Jones and Justice burst out of the pack nearly neck and neck, with Davy holding lead -- but Justice would lose valuable time slipping in turn two. While he managed to spring up and close the gap just as Davy started his scoring pass, Davy would get critical box points upon passing the first Homicide blocker and calling the jam, notching a 3-0.

Justice was back on the line next, and finally got the better of Spankenstein -- but only by a point, as upon reaching the back of the pack, he attempted to jump over a multiplayer pileup but couldn't quite land it, calling it off as he hit the deck for a 1-0 win that made the score Dirty Dozen 73, Homicide 71 with less than two minutes on the clock.

Davy Jones got out with a big lead jammer call on the next jam, and though opposing jammer Sin Diesel took a while to get out of the pack to follow, the Homicide defense closed up and bought Sin enough time to catch up and score 2 before Davy called it off with 3. Homicide immediately called timeout with 31 seconds left on the clock and a score of Dirty Dozen 76, Homicide 73.

The final jam would start with Davy Jones up against Justice Feelgood Marshall, with the Homicide needing to deny lead jammer status to the Dirty Dozen.

Justice engaged Davy right off the line, but was unable to force him out, and then decided to try his luck the old-fashioned way in the pack. But Davy was able to quickly cut his way around on the outside to claim lead before Justice could find a way around nemesis Spankenstein -- and Davy would add four more points to the margin before bringing the curtain down with the jam call. Final score: Pioneer Valley 80, Harm City 73.

Stats

Dr. Spankenstein was the point leader on the night with 31 points on 10 jams and a +13 jammer point differential; Davy Jones was right behind him in total points scored with 29 points on 13 jams, but had a -1 differential. Bazooka Joe only needed 2 jams to collect 16 points with a +13 differential. There were no points for The Rev (3 jams, -7 JPD) or Crash Daily (2 jams, -9 JPD.)

For the boys in blue, Justice Feelgood Marshall led the scoring with 30 points on 12 jams and a +5 differential, with team captain Virginia Slim contributing 17 points on 7 jams and accruing a +9 JPD. Deustch Bag had 16 points on 9 jams and was outscored by 9 points. Auxiliary jammers included Sin Diesel (2 jams, 6 points, -5 JPD) and Hung Solo (1 jam, 3 points, -8 JPD.)

The night's outcome moves the Dirty Dozen to 4-3 in public bouting, while the Homicide sits at 0-4 with two 40-minutes losses to Pioneer Valley and 20 minute and 60 minute losses to the New York Shock Exchange.

Harm City will get a chance to finally claim the elusive first win when they play the Connecticut Death Quads at halftime of Charm City's October 25th championship bout. Pioneer Valley does not currently have their next matchup scheduled.

Photos: Global Glenn