As volunteers scrambled late into the night on Thursday night, laying down sport court borrowed last minute from Middle Georgia Derby Demons and Atlanta Rollergirls, the atmosphere around the Atlanta playoff was tense. They had no idea the stage they were setting was about to produce one of the most thrilling and competitive tournaments in WFTDA Playoff history. If you somehow missed all of it, this will get you caught up. You can find our Day 1 recap here and a Day 2 recap here.
The Ol’ Texies Playoff Trick
Miss Moxxxie knew! Going into the weekend few brackets had faith in the #1 seed making it to the Gold Medal game, let alone winning it. The Texies had a massive roster make over and struggles at regular season tournaments SweatFest and G.W. Tush gave the impression that they wouldn’t be able to get it together in time for this Playoff. WRONG! The defense was stellar, holding their 3 opponents to an average of just 118 points, including limiting London to just 80.
They were led by tournament MVP Freight Train who put up 221 of the Texies’ 507 points, along with a track rating of +156 and just 2 penalties. She led them in scoring in each game, but the attack was balanced and the pressure the Texies jammers put on opposing defenses with a rotation of Hauss, Gravy and Grace Lightning was too much.
Top track ratings among blockers from the Gold Medal game? Legal Knievel (+44) with 56% jams played. Top to bottom they had a roster of skaters who all took a big step forward this year.
THAT NEW JAX COMEBACK 💀💀💀
Chills! I watched Jacksonville come back against the Skids from behind their bench and their poise, faith in each other, and resilience will stick with me for a long time. Their veteran rotation of Snot Rocket, Erin Jackson, Jamsterella and Leanne Groll waited for their opportunities late in the game and they capitalized with power jams executed to perfection with their blockers. Erin Jackson put up 88 points to lead the charge, 78 of which came in the 2nd half and the final jam of the first half, but that 20 point final jam from Jamsterella was the stuff you make movies out of. The building was electric and the New Jax fans got their comeback, pulling off the victory in the final jam of a game that their team trailed by as much as 80 points in. It will be remembered as one of the greatest WFTDA Playoff games of all time.
The New Skids Bounce Back Tho!
Deflated but not defeated, the Montreal New Skids still had a shot at a Champs appearance provided they could rebound against London in the Bronze Medal game, less than 24 hours after their crushing loss to Jacksonville. It wasn’t pretty and London controlled the game early, but the Skids found a way, capitalizing off of London blocker penalties to post double digits jams. Miracle Whips, who called off the final jam the night before to ensure the Jacksonville victory, responded in her first jam with 26 points and she led the charge for the Skids having the game of her life — 9/12 leads, 86 points, +79 track rating, 1 penalty. The next closest positive track rating was blocker Surgical Strike at +46. That’s how you shake off a tough game!
Also, DID YOU SEE THOSE TWO LATE JAMMER PENALTY KILLS!?!?! ZERO POINTS! THEY GAVE UP ZERO POINTS!!!!!!! 🚫🕷
The Margins Were Tight! How Tight?
Former WFTDA announcer and Coach Capt Lou has kept a personal running tally to chart the competitiveness of WFTDA playoff tournaments as a way to try and track trends and the success or struggles of tournament structures. What was the verdict out of Atlanta? It was the most competitive WFTDA tournament all time.
Only 3 of the 16 games had a margin over 100 points and 8 of the 16 games had margins tighter than 30. The success is part vindication for the new tournament structure, however, this was also something very specific to Atlanta. A Coruña featured 7 games with margins over 100 points and just 4 games with margins tighter than 30.
The score chain in Atlanta is also fun to track — Bear City beat QCRG by 6, QCRG lost to BAD by 26, BAD lost to Atlanta by 11, Atlanta lost to London by 25, London lost to Montreal by 5, Montreal lost to Jacksonville by 7 and Jacksonville lost to Texas by 17. That’s less than 100 points across 12 to 1.
Ann Arbor and Bear City Secure 1st Ever D1 Playoff Wins
The 11 and 12 seed extended invites Ann Arbor and Bear City pulled off back to back upsets on Saturday morning to claim their clubs’ first ever Division 1 Playoff victories. It took 7 games for Ann Arbor, but their defense exhausted the opposition on their way to a 213–185 win over Windy City. Bear City followed that up with a roller coaster win over QCRG 218–212. Accepting extended invites can be dicey, but the new consolation bracket afforded more competitive games and these teams made the most of it not only winning games but also setting up their 2019 Playoff runs. Ann Arbor especially, as they left the weekend with 657 average, +149 over their incoming average.
Were You Here First?
Aside from hosting an amazing tournament, Atlanta Rollergirls took the opportunity and platform to make important political statements across the weekend, including warming up in their shirts which supported #NoOneIsIllegal, #BlackLivesMatter and #FtheBinary.
They played their hearts out in front of their fans and although they couldn’t secure a Champs invite, falling to London 147–122 on Friday night, they have pushed the sport forward in terms of how to use this space to fight for change.
They finished strong on Sunday with a 213–202 win over BAD. Jammer Ana Cheng saved the best for last, putting up 82 points to lead all scorers.
London Brawled
As a 5 seed the path to a Champs invite was long and uphill for London Brawling. They embraced the challenge though and came out swinging on Friday with a 250–58 win over Bear City to open the day and then a 147–122 upset win over the hosts to close it. Their positional defensive style was punishing opposing teams and their was a real faith on their bench that they could get it done. They fell 144–80 to Texas on Saturday, but they still had a shot to keep their Champs streak alive with a win over Montreal on Sunday. A rematch of the first ever non-US teams to make Playoffs, London couldn’t capitalize over the closing stretch of the game and came up 5 points shy of Champs. Like a lot of teams at this tournament, roster turnover had been an issue this year, but the Brawling team in Atlanta peaked at the right time and should feel very proud of their progress this year.
Trisha Smackanawa had a stand out weekend in the Brawling jammer rotation, posting a tournament stat line of 184 points scored, +90 track rating and 3 penalties. She also led her team in scoring in 3 of their 4 games.
BAAAYYYYYYY AAARRRRREEEAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
BAD got a nice shock early from QCRG, but responded in the 2nd half to pull off the win 235–209 and advance to set up their 3rd annual Playoff match up against Montreal. They pressured the Skids early, holding the lead for long stretches and were only behind by 1 at half. The Skids regrouped with a strong 2nd half and bounced them to the consolation bracket beating them 231–168. They finished the weekend with a physical match up against Atlanta, again almost playing upset but falling 213–202. For almost all of the weekend they played a very smart game and again, like many teams in Atlanta, this new focus allowed them to make up for some substantial turnover. Legs // Cité had a great weekend for the team in their first appearance in black and gold and the future looks bright again for Bay Area!
Sun State’s Rollercoaster Ride 🎢
Sun State was in tough early in their 6 v 11 match up against Ann Arbor, but an 18 jam, 114 point, +95 performance from jammer Spinach was enough to secure the win and advance 195–162. This set up a speed on speed match up against Jacksonville that Sun State could not win, falling 331–126. Sunday provided another big challenge against another fast team in Rat City and the Australian side got into early penalty trouble, Spinach fouled out 7 jams in, and ran out of steam losing 355–65. The bracket draw wasn’t kind, but they battled and will take a lot away from the experience as a team that is regionally isolated.
Blocker Rattlin’ Bones did A LOT of heavy lifting across the weekend, leading the team with 80 jams played.
Rat City Keeps Building
Coming in under ranked, Rat City would have to get past Texas in order to have a shot at Champs. That didn’t pan out, but they did string together an impressive weekend with solid wins over Windy City 265–171 and Sun State 355–65 and their results, including a +1,200 result against Sun State, will see they go wayyyy 📈in the post Playoff rankings release. They feel like they are 1 season of training and good scheduling away, provided they can run back this talented roster.
ETC.
- Announcers wearing medals shouldn’t offend you and if it does you may be under estimating the amount of work they do.
- Make sure you fill out the pronunciation guides for announcers and especially make sure this has been done before you fire off an angry tweet! If you have and folks get your name wrong, I totally get the frustration, otherwise though how would they know?
- Your team should have a white jersey, it is WFTDA tournament policy.
- EVERYONE should watch the end of the Texas v Jax game for “when fielding two jammers goes wrong.”
- THERE WAS ONLY 1 PERFECT BRACKET FOR ATLANTA. WHO IS “CRASH”?!?!? SHOW YOURSELF!
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