Charm City Outlasts Steel City, 186-122
LONDON, UK -- A rematch of a 2010 Easterns quarterfinal bout between #18 Steel City and #9 Charm City was a narrow, back and forth nailbiter for nearly the entire game -- and then suddenly it wasn't. Steel City led for nearly the entire first half and was behind by just 18 points with 7 minutes left in the game -- and then the bottom totally fell out for them in a seemingly endless cavalcade of box trips, leading to a 64 point Charm City win, 186-122.
Steel City claimed first blood in the match with a 2-0, and for a few low-scoring jams it looked like Charm was just one lap away from taking back the lead. But with the score Steel 14, Charm City 8 five minutes into the game, a major cut on Charm City jammer Lady Quebeaum let a limber Snot Rocket Science drop a huge 18-0 jam that made it 32-8 Steel early.
Sticking with the hot hands, Steel City jammed Hurricane Heather and Snot Rocket Science very heavily through the first half. On one of the rare jams that did not feature one of the two, Charm City cut off most of the big lead with a 15-0 to I.M. Pain while Steel jammer Mean Burrito was hopelessly stuck. After Charm continued to nick away, it was Steel City 36, Charm City 33 with 18:05 to play and it again looked like Charm City was about to take control.
But Steel City denied them again. Over the next ten minutes, Charm City narrowed the gap to three points three times, only to see Steel City open it up a little further -- but never getting more than 12 points away. With 2:55 in the first half, it was Steel City 66, Charm City 57 when Charm City at last got the big jam they needed to go ahead. Joy Collision exploited a powerjam opportunity and rolled to 17-3 as Steel City filled their box. Charm City finally had their first lead at 74-69 with about 35 seconds left in the half -- but it was a one-point game at the break when Snot Rocket Science answered with a 4-0, 74-73 Charm City.
For most of the second half, it looked like the game was going to become a mirror image of the first half, except with Charm City holding on to the small lead. Every time Charm City opened their lead over ten points, Steel City answered to close the gap. About 11 minutes deep into the half, with the score 98-88, The Crippler dropped a 9-0 jam that got Steel within a point at 98-97 with 17:05 to play.
Unfortunately for Steel, Charm City's I.M. Pain got the biggest jam of the game with a 24-0; the normally fleet footwork of Hurricane Heather came up empty against a tough Charm pack and she was lapped four times in the course of the jam. With 15 to play, Charm City had their biggest lead at 122-97.
With about ten minutes to play, the Steel City pack completely had Holden Grudges' number in a big jam that looked like it would set up a final dramatic stretch -- about half of a 138-106 Charm lead was erased with a 16-2 jam to Snot Rocket Science, making the game 140-122 with 7:15 left to play.
There was plenty of time for Steel City to make up the difference, but instead they'd be blanked for the rest of the game as they suffered equally from Charm's endurance and their own errors. For nearly the remainder of the running time the Steel City box was full -- a series that included three jammer penalties, along with a 2 minute sentence for one of Steel's ace jammers, Snot Rocket Science, when she was waved off from a full penalty box and re-entered mid-pack. 13-0, 4-0, 24-0, and 5-0 jams ended the game for Charm City and made the final score 186-122, a very poor reflection of how late Steel City was still just a big jam away from an upset win.
