Keweenaw Roller Derby dominates Grand Raggidy
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CALUMET -- After Keweenaw Roller Derby added some fun and chaotic jousting to Pastyfest weekend, they got back to work on track Saturday when they took on Grand Raggidy Roller Derby's (GRRD) Attack! squad who visited from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The score was pretty close throughout the first half with KRD taking a halftime lead of 88-59. In the second half, KRD managed to add 100 points to GRRD's 38, so the game ended with a KRD win, 188-59.
In the first two jams, the teams traded 4-0 scores before calling them off. In the third jam, KRD's jammer Luna Stormborn was called for a penalty, giving GRRD's jammer Buffy the Jampire Skater a power jam. She turned that into an 11-6 point advantage, and GRRD took an early 15-10 lead. By the eighth jam, the teams were tied up 20-20.
Over the next eight jams, the KRD jammers were able to rack up 36 points while their blockers kept GRRD to just 16, giving KRD a 20-point lead. Johnny Crash took advantage of a penalty on GRRD's Buffy to score twelve unanswered points, and Kim Kong managed an 8 - 4 jam up against Bear Thrylls. Between the two, KRD extended their lead by another 16 points.
Buffy and Bear started a comeback for GRRD over the next two jams, scoring 11 unanswered points and bringing the score to 76-51. Luna grabbed another four points for KRD, and Johnny Crash tied Buffy 8-8 in the final jam before halftime. Despite being up by 29 points at halftime, KRD knows that the points can swing wildly and quickly in the other direction in roller derby and wanted to keep up the pace in the second half.
They did just that with Flower Power racking up a 12-0 score in the second jam for KRD, and Luna followed it up with a 3-0 jam. Kim Kong had a great 11-2 jam, and suddenly KRD had a fifty point lead, up 114-64.
GRRD responded by keeping KRD scoreless over the next three jams, but their jammers only managed to score 9 points in that time. Kim Kong opened the floodgates once more with a 12-0 jam, followed by an 8-0 jam from Johnny Crash and consecutive 4-0 jams from Luna and Flower Power.
Izzy Hands, jammer for GRRD, was able to snag lead jammer in the next jam, but Kim Kong broke through the GRRD defense just milliseconds after Izzy, so the jam was quickly called off. No more momentum came for GRRD though as KRD piled on the points with a 14-0 jam from Johnny Crash.
A small spark came from GRRD's jammer Sassathrash took advantage of a penalty on Luna and scored a 10-0 jam. That brought the score to 176-87 with just a few minutes left, but a rally might be just around the corner.
One of the strangest jams followed with KRD's Flower Power quickly getting the lead jammer, but then getting called for a penalty. GRRD's Buffy was stymied by the KRD defense and struggled to get past. Flower Power was back on track, but quickly called for a second penalty. Despite a double penalty for KRD's jammer, they still outscored GRRD 4-3 in the jam.
At this point, GRRD seemed spent and unable to regain any momentum. KRD's defense seemed to be all over the track, keeping the GRRD jammers from finding any easy gaps. They also often pushed a GRRD blocker out of the way of their own jammer, opening up lanes to keep getting the points on offense. While the KRD jammers put on a show, the blockers definitely did their part on both offense and defense throughout the game.
For GRRD, the MVP jammer award went to Buffy the Jampire Skater, and MVP blocker status went to Violet Tendencies. On KRD's side, MVP jammer honors went to Flower Power while Fresh received the MVP blocker.
Up next
KRD hosts their invitational Solar System Smackdown Saturday, Sept. 5. Doors are set to open at 5 p.m. and the first whistle blows at 6 p.m.