Chicago Outfit Whacks #24 Arch Rival, 164-104

By Muckety Muck, Last updated Tue Jul 12 2011 12:58pm

CHICAGO, IL --On Saturday, a Midwestern mafia gained redemption on a streaking team that handed them a lopsided loss at Midwest Brewhaha in May. Paced by jammer Lola Blow’s 73 points, NC #9 Chicago Outfit beat NC #10 Arch Rival (unofficially ranked #24 nationally by DNN) 164-104 in WFTDA-sanctioned action at Windy City Fieldhouse in front of 900.

This version of the Syndicate didn’t resemble the one that stumbled in a 57-point loss to Arch Rival at Brewhaha. With the win, the Outfit (7-3) netted their fourth win in five bouts and halted St. Louis’ six- bout winning streak.

“We needed this win really bad,” said Blow of the 60-point victory. “We had just lost to (SC #3) Nashville and we lost earlier to Arch Rival, so this was really important. We knew we had a good chance to win tonight, but we won by a little bit more than we had anticipated. We did our absolute best and it definitely showed.”

Arch Rival (6-2) drew first blood with South City Shiner’s two-point tally two minutes in. Unfortunately, that would be their only lead for the bout as the Syndicate followed with a 26-0 run in the span of four jams. Blow’s three-pointer gave the host squad a 3-2 edge at 26:20. Two jams later, the Outfit’s Sweet Mary Pain posted ten to extend the lead to 13-2. Blow’s baker’s dozen added to the rally, which gave the Outfit a 26-2 lead with 21:04 left in the first half.

Points came few and far between for Arch Rival during the bout’s first twenty minutes. The Educator broke ARRG’s dry spell by scoring eight non-lead points to cut the gap to 33-10 with 20:00 left in the first half.

The Outift then silenced Arch Rival with a 37-0 run collected off five consecutive lead jams – punctuated by Blow’s 17-pointer midway - resulting in a 70-10 lead with 10:00 remaining in the first frame.

Down, but not necessarily out, Arch Rival launched a rally of their own in the latter stages of the first half. Down 76-14 with 6:55 left, jammer Mighty Mighty Boston capitalized on a power jam and netted ten to cut the gap to 76-24. ARRG’s Downtown Dallis followed with a 17-point strike on the next jam, whittling the Outfit lead to 76-47. Boston collected two on the first half’s final jam. Altogether, the 29-0 late-half rally put Arch Rival within striking distance. Once down by sixty, Arch Rival had narrowed the Outfit’s lead to 76-43 at intermission.

But the Outfit scored 18 unanswered points to start the second half. Sutherland scored six for the Syndicate, Blow followed with three and Valerie of the Dolls concluded with seven to finish an 18-0 run which put the Outfit back into a comfortable lead – a 94-43 advantage with 25:00 remaining. Arch Rival got the score back to its halftime margin with a 20-2 run in the next four jams, making it 96-63 with 18:00 left.

On the next jam, Pain utilized a Syndicate power jam to score 10, extending the Outfit lead to 106- 63, which was immediately followed by Dallis’ 14-pointer for Arch Rival, cutting the gap to 106-77 with 15:30 left.

On the next jam, the Outfit decided it was time for the visitors to figuratively “sleep with the fishes” as a trio of Arch Rivals was simultaneously sent to the sin bin, resulting in a power jam for Blow. A 30-point monster jam ensued and extended the Outfit lead to 136-77 with 13:00 remaining.

“That was the coolest thing ever,” said Blow of the flat-track rarity. “I had a huge smile on my face and all I could say was ‘Thank you, blockers! Thank you, blockers!’”

Arch Rival tried to save face down the stretch as Boston scored 14 with eight minutes left to cut the gap to 149-104, but the Outfit finished the bout with a 15-0 run to win by sixty points, even the regular season series at one win apiece and erase the memories of a lopsided ARRG win two months ago.

“Our focus lately has been to keep our cool, which was something we had problems with earlier this year,” said Blow, who finished with 73 points. “We’ve been working on staying calm during halftime, communicating with each other and maintaining our mental awareness. It’s really changed our game.”

Keeping cool has changed the Outfit’s overall outlook – a team that should realistically make its inaugural trip to the North Central region playoffs come October.

Pain and Sutherland added 44 and 36, respectively, for the Syndicate. Downtown Dallis led Arch Rival scoring with 51 points, followed by Boston’s 34.

Both teams return to action this Saturday as Chicago Outfit travels to East #6 Steel City (ranked unofficially #17 in the nation by DNN) while Arch Rival hosts NC #14 Grand Raggidy.

In the B-team undercard bout, jammer Boom Boom Pow punched out a career high 66 points to help the Saint Lunachix – ARRG’s developmental squad – post a 156-112 win over the Outfit’s Shade Brigade. The victory extended the Chix’s win streak to three bouts and improved their record to 8-1. With the Lunachix posting a 67-47 lead at intermission, Pow posted jams of 20, 28 and 18 points to help the visitors net the 44-point win. EnYa Nightmare added 48 points for the Lunachix, who host the Southern Illinois Roller Girls this Saturday in St. Louis.