(25) Arch Rival Downs Chicago Outfit, 191-100

By Muckety Muck, Last updated Mon Jul 16 2012 5:23pm

BALLWIN, MO – In WFTDA North Central region play Saturday night, rollers from the Gateway City played the part of derby detectives and put handcuffs on a Midwestern mafia. Capitalizing on a 57-0 second half run, Arch Rival (NC #8 and ranked #25 in the nation unofficially by DNN) apprehended NC #5 Chicago Outfit 191-100 in front of 600 at Midwest Sport Hockey. The 91-point victory over the North Central foe netted Arch Rival (9-2) its fourth upset over a higher- ranked opponent in the past six weeks.

“[The Outfit] came out wanting to maintain their spot in the rankings, so we had to make sure that we wanted it more,” said Arch Rival blocker The Educator afterwards. “We wanted to send a message before post-season.”

The Chicago Outfit Syndicate (5-5) also craved a region win and came prepared to “shake up the joint.” After all, that’s what mobsters do best.

After Arch Rival grinded out a 20-6 lead eight minutes in, the Outfit tied the bout 20-20 with Queefer Sutherland’s 14-point strike at 20:15.

St. Louis pulled ahead 27-21 following two rotations, but an Outfit 14-5 power jam posted by Lola Blow with 14:10 left helped snag her squad a 35-32 edge. Arch Rival retaliated with a 13-6 non-lead power jam by May Require Stitches, resulting in a 45-41 lead change.

Arch Rival’s Downtown Dallis followed with four with 9:30 left to double the advantage but back-to-back two-pointers by the Outfit’s Sutherland and Silkk Assassin whittled the margin to 49-45.

With 4:30 left, Arch Rival notched a power jam and was aided by a packed Outfit penalty box. Dallis punched out a 24-pointer that widened ARRG’s margin, 73-45. Chicago quickly silenced the locals on the period’s penultimate jam as Asssassin posted a 20-pointer that narrowed gap to eight.

Arch Rival tallied four to conclude first half scoring but in a bout that had the visiting mob looking to “muscle in,” a 77-65 advantage at intermission was anything but safe.

“The Outfit’s a really strong team,” said ARRG jammer South City Shiner. “They know how to disrupt any type of plan that you have. It took us a little while to find our groove.”

That groove was firmly established early in the second half as Mighty Mighty Boston collected a period- opening baker’s dozen that extended St. Louis’ lead to 90-65. A 4-2 jam for the Outfit’s Assassin on the next rotation narrowed the deficit to 23 points.

Arch Rival proceeded to reverse roles and fit the Chicagoan cosca with its own version of “concrete shoes,” posting a 57-0 rally over the period’s next fifteen minutes. Dallis’ nine-point power jam with 25:30 left was followed by an additional nine scored by Boston two jams later that pushed the lead to 110-72. Boston went on to collect another twelve and thirteen as the stretch continued. Shiner’s niner scored with 10:15 left put the exclamation point on the whack and Arch Rival had built a 158-72 lead.

Meanwhile, the Arch Rival blocking battalion of Eli Wallop, Science Friction, Shimmy Hoffa, Party Foul, Grave Danger, Chewblocka, Mayor Francis Slayer and the aforementioned Educator and Stitches put the clamp on Outifit scoring in the second half, holding the Northern Illinoisans to seven points recorded in twenty minutes.

After the long offensive drought, the Outfit went on a 19-0 run with 5:00 left, but Boston’s 28-point penultimate power jam locked the cell. Arch Rival outscored Chicago Outfit 114-35 in the second half en route to the 91-point win and improved to 8-1 in the North Central.

“This was a really big deal for us,” reflected the Educator. “We wanted this kind of momentum going into regionals. This adds more fuel to our fire.”

Boston topped Arch Rival scoring with 79 points unofficially while Sutherland paced the Outfit (5-5) with 50.

Arch Rival returns to North Central play on August 4, hosting Naptown (7-3 overall, NC #3 and unofficially ranked #15 in the nation by DNN) while Chicago Outfit hosts current NC #9 Cincinnati (5-4) this Saturday at the Windy City Fieldhouse.

In the b-team opener, ARRG’s Saint Lunachix posted a 155-53 win over the Outfit’s Shade Brigade to improve to 6-2.