ECDX: (2) Rose City Forges Past (18) Steel City, 275-70

By Lex Talionis, Last updated Sat Jun 23 2012 8:29pm

FEASTERVILLE, PA -- Rose City (2 DNN, 3W WFTDA) didn’t have much trouble with a challenge from Steel City (18 DNN, 4E WFTDA), blasting to a 164-37 lead at halftime before winning 275-70.

The first half was dominated by a mixture of pack penalties for Rose City, which were then more than nullified by a succession of jammer penalties for Steel City. Hurricane Heather found herself completely unable to surmount Rose packs, leaving the jamming to Cheeseburger, Sgt Shocker and 'snot Rocket Science for the majority of the first period.

White Flight racked up more points in the first half, but it was Scald Eagle who had the least trouble with the Steel packs, weaving around blockers when needed and just pushing them out of play with ease when not.

It took 30 seconds at the start of the bout for White Flight to get Rose's first lead jam call of the evening against Sgt Shocker--but she was forced into a call after scoring 2 points, thanks to smart blocking by Athena.

An athletic pirouette from 'snot Rocket Science got a lead jam call--and another got her all four points for the game's first lead change. Scald Eagle wasn't having any of it though--she got five points in the next jam after effortlessly pushing Steel's front wall out of play, while her own blockers frustrated Hurricane Heather just over the jam line. She got 20 points to put Rose into a comfortable lead that they hung onto for the rest of the bout.

The closest Steel got was after a major track cut was called on Soulfearic Acid after coming off the worse from a battle with Athena and The Crippler. Offense from Death Cake for Cutie was enough to bring Steel back to within 8 points of Rose at 30-22 with ten minutes gone.

White Flight, Scald Eagle and Soulfearic Acid all put up double-digit jams around another penalty for Hurricane Heather. When Heather was on the track she found herself dominated by the Rose pack, with Havana Good Time and Heidi Go Seek being particularly effective at shutting her down.

Cheeseburger was then boxed for her first jam after JK Rolling knocked her to the infield, and Scald Eagle took Rose into a 94-22 lead half way through the first period. Next jam, smart offense from Heidi Go Seek let White Flight ease Rose past the century mark.

Steel took a team time-out at that point and it paid instant dividends as Sgt Shocker got their first lead call in some time -- and four points following an apex jump that cleared the entire Rose pack. 'snot Rocket Science got lead in the next jam with a 4-2 pack advantage as Athena dominated White Flight for the better part of a lap--but Steel's comeback hopes were snuffed out when 'snot Rocket Science was boxed before she could score.

Ally McKill did some sterling work during the next powerjam keeping Scald Eagle from scoring before 'snot Rocket Science was released. That was almost the only time in the half Rose weren't just scoring at will with the Steel jammer in the box.

Hurricane Heather got a lead jam call in the first jam of the second period as she returned to the jammer rotation to try and remove some of the 164-37 half-time deficit, but was on the wrong end of a 4-2 jam with White Flight. Single-digit jams added another 19 for Rose. Shocker picked up four before being doubled up on by a hit to the gut as she was calling it off, increasing the score to 191-43 with 21 minutes remaining on the clock. ‘Snot got Steel's second lead call in a row. Their mini-revival ended when the Shocker was boxed on a major cut. Scald Eagle took Rose past 200 despite strong defense from Dakota Slamming on the powerjam.

Ten minutes passed before Steel got any more points on the board, after a spot of jammer musical chairs between Heather and Soulfearic Acid. The powerjam continued with 'snot Rocket Science putting up Steel's biggest jam of the night--before calling it after a huge hit from Rose's Mercy--leaving Rose leading 247-62 with under ten minutes left.

It was Steel's scourge Scald Eagle who took Rose's lead past 250 as the game entered its last five minutes. A late-game powerjam for Hurricane Heather gave Steel a chance to pull the score back to 272-70 after Soulfearic Acid took her first trip to the box--but Mel Mangles controlled a clearly dispirited Heather to limit the scoring.

The bout ended 275-70. Rose will play Gotham Girls All-Stars tomorrow at 4.30 pm Eastern, while Steel City face Arizona at 5 pm Eastern.

Bout stats via wftda.com.