Side Line Blog
by James Harley, July 10th 02:26pm
The Columbia Quadsquad roller derby team extended its amazing two-year winning streak on Saturday night at Jamil Temple with a 207-97 beatdown of the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers of Austin, Texas. The victory rates as one the Quadsquad’s finest, in that the Heartbreakers are members of the Texas Rollergirls league, which is currently ranked No. 2 among the WFTDA South Central region’s 27 leagues.
It seems that Texas, the founders of modern flat track derby, didn’t anticipate the power of the Quadsquad, sending only 11 players to Columbia, only 3 of which are members of their all-star team. Bad idea.
Columbia exploited the imbalance quickly, jumping out to a 20-0 lead on its very first jam and never looking back. The Heartbreakers dug in and tried to keep it close, but their conservative style of running short, slow, low-scoring jams simply wasn’t the right strategy to counter the Quadsquad’s explosiveness and speed.
A brief stale period followed Columbia’s initial outburst, but jammer Grafik put them back on track with an 8 point jam, followed by Crystal Cutt, who added 17 more, opening the lead to 45-11.
All night long the Quadsquad won the battle at the starting line, earning lead jammer status in the majority of the jams, which is crucial to controlling the pace of scoring in a derby match. Texas just didn’t seem to have the quickness to get out and stay in front of our girls, possibly a result of having hosted a training boot camp earlier in the day.
Texas was able to close the gap a little with a run before halftime and a strong start in the second, but again Grafik turned things around with a great hit putting two Heartbeakers on the ground and rolling past them to start the scoring again. Crystal Cutt again followed with a huge jam and at that point it was in the books as “the wave” broke out among the packed house.
Crystal Cutt was easily the standout player of the night, slipping virtually undetected through the pack and racking up 5 double-digit jams, accounting for almost half of the Quadsquad’s total scoring. The blowout score also allowed some less-experienced players to see some action towards the end of the night, where Fearless fritz showed some promise collecting 7 points in her only jam.
If fans or the Quadsquad girls themselves were a bit unsure of how the team stacks up nationally, this win should ease their minds somewhat. Columbia has a really good team to be proud of here. This result should also encourage other challengers to send their A-team to Columbia as the Quadsquad ramps up its schedule in pursuit of full WFTDA membership.
The Quadsquad will attempt to extend its streak to 23 straight wins in late August against a yet-to-be-named opponent, before facing the WFTDA Dixie Derby Girls in September. For more information on the Columbia Quadsquad, visit their website at www.columbiaquadsquad.com.
Photo by Bad Jon Photography
