Mar 27, 2013 | Bout News
Texecutioners beat All-Stars 300 – 151
By Fire Wally, filling in for league reporter Garrison Killer
All-Stars vs. Texecutioners
The Minnesota RollerGirls All-Stars managed an early lead and a close first half against The Texecutioners, representing the Texas Rollergirls of Austin, Texas. However, the Texecutioners’ physical blocking and high-scoring power jams earned them the victory at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul.
Minnesota started out in control of the game. While Texas jammer Olivia Shootin’ John was pushed out to the inside by Juke Boxx and then held back by a wall of Diamond Rough, Hurtrude Stein, and Crust Almighty, Minnesota jammer Harmony Killerbruise exploded out of the pack then came around to lap the Texas blockers and jammer for a five-point pass. Texas jammer Hauss The Boss struck back with 3 points on the next jam, but Commander Nix, in her first jam returning from injury to the All-Stars, snuck through the Texas pack to score 4, extending Minnesota’s lead to 9-3 with 26 minutes remaining in the half.
Blocker penalties on the preceding jam meant Texas started the next jam with a 4-2 pack advantage, and Olivia sprung out quickly for lead jammer while Harmony was stuck behind a Texas four-wall. Harmony then joined her blockers to play defense, but Olivia recovered from a hard hit by Shiva Shankin to score a fiver by passing all blockers and lapping the Minnesota jammer. Harmony escaped from the pack, but Olivia scored another 4 points and then called off the jam, putting Texas ahead 12-9 with 25 minutes until halftime, a lead they kept for the rest of the bout.
A track cut called on L’exi Cuter then left Hauss alone on the track against two Minnesota blockers. For their power jam strategy, Texas employed a variation of the “Patient Offense” strategy that MNRG fans will remember from the Kansas City bout at Roy last September: blockers stood still on the track, forcing a split-pack situation that effectively released the jammer with little effort from the Texas blockers. In the Texecutioner variation, Texas blockers arranged themselves in a diamond pattern on the track, moving as little as possible, with the leadmost blocker carefully poised nine feet from the backmost Minnesota blocker. This forced the Minnesota blockers into a high-risk, high-reward strategy: attempt to push the Texas jammer out of bounds while leaving skaters behind to “bridge” the pack definition back to the Texas blockers. When it succeeded, the Minnesota blockers could skate backwards and force the jammer to lose ground and come in behind them. When it failed, Hauss would get an easy five-point pass and a Minnesota blocker may get sent to the box on an Out of Play penalty.
That 24-point power jam put Texas ahead 36-9, but Killbox was sent to the box on a track cut on the following jam, giving Commander Nix a chance to strike back. Minnesota took a more aggressive approach to power jam tactics, with Diamond Rough pushing out a Texas blocker who was then trapped to slow down the pack. The team of D-Rough, MEDUSA, Second Hand Smoke, and Buzz TightRear broke up the Texas wall on four total scoring passes, resulting in a 19-point jam for Nix and a Texas lead brought down to 36-28. After a scoreless jam, Lexi scored two more to bring the score to 30-36 Texas with 17:52 left in the half.
On the next jam, Barbara Ambush and Luce Bandit teamed up to push Smoke to the outside while Texas jammer Killbox grabbed lead jammer and then beat the Minnesota pack on the outside to put up five fingers. Killbox then scored 2 more points before calling off the jam. Minnesota was then held scoreless through the next three jams on account of aggressive, effective blocking including big hits by Barbara, Desi Cration, and Luce. The jammer rotation of Olivia, Hauss, and Killbox steadily notched Texas’s score up to a 69-34 lead with 11:32 on the clock.
At the conclusion of an official timeout, a track cut penalty was assessed on Hauss (who missed the whistle on account of crowd noise), leaving her in the penalty box and Commander Nix alone on the jammer line. On her first scoring pass, Smoke and Hurtrude Stein simultaneously cleared a path through the middle of the Texas wall. They were then joined by D-Rough to compress the Texas blockers to the inside of the track and clear another two easy passes for Nix. The Great Wall of Saint Paul continued to hold Hauss after she was released from the box, allowing Nix to bring Minnesota within striking distance, 58-69.
But then Austin put their own Gritty Limits on Minnesota’s jammers. After two quick jams favoring Texas 8-2, Debella Deball and Smarty Pants pushed out Harmony and brought her to the back of the pack, making time for Hauss to pick up a five-pack to make the score 86-60 Texas. Olivia then took advantage of a 4-2 pack advantage and some big hits by Barbara to put up 10 more points making it 96-60 with 4:52 left in the half.
After trading a series of defense-heavy jams, Texas hit hard to end the half. Barbara and Shortcut teamed up to force a track cut on Lexi, giving Polly Gone a power jam opportunity. Once again, the combination of a fast jammer and the patient offense strategy proved effective, giving Texas a 24 point jam to end the half in the lead 126-65
After the halftime break, Minnesota had their own defensive stand, holding Texas to just 4 points in the first five jams back from the half. After Harmony hit and quit for 3, a Minnesota wall of Scarmen Hellectra, ShivaShankin, Lexi, and Buzz held lead jammer Hauss long enough for Juke Boxx to make a five-point pass before Hauss called off the jam. On the following jam, D-Rough forced a cut by Polly Gone, and again the Minnesota blockers (this time Dusa, Trudy, and Venus Thightrap) kept the Texas blockers separated while Nix scored 25 to Pollys’s 5, making the score 108-135 Texas with 22:42 left to play.
Constantly splitting packs let both Harmony and Olivia put up points in the following jam, but Olivia managed quicker trips through the pack to score 24 points to Harmony’s 8. A Skating Out of Bounds penalty at the end of the jam put Smarty Pants on another power jam to follow. The pattern of standing blockers, split packs, out-of-play penalties, and points for Texas continued, making the score 183-116 in favor of Texas.
Texas proved dominant through the latter part of the second half. Pack advantages from Minnesota blocker penalties, impressive jamming from Killbox, Olivia, Hauss, and Smarty, and continued physical play all contributed to a 223-135 advantage with 8:26 on the clock. Another power jam brought Texas to 256, and then Olivia took advantage of a short Minnesota pack to rack up 30-point jam then two jams later add insult to injury with a 14-point power jam, deciding the game 300-151 for the Texecutioners.