Recap: Corporal Punishers vs Brandywine Roller Girls

On Saturday April 11, Morristown’s original roller derby team, the Corporal Punishers of the Jerzey Derby Brigade, faced off against the Brandywine Roller Girls, visiting from Chester County Pennsylvania. The Corporal Punishers had lost some key skaters to other teams and other towns in recent years, but they proved fully up to speed in a very competitive bout.

In the initial jam Apocelyse put the first points of the bout on the board for the Punishers. Ultra-Shear-her returned the favor for Brandywine in the next. It set the pattern for most of the first half as the lead see-sawed from one team to the next. At 10 minutes into the bout the Punishers led 26-25. 10 minutes later the score stood at 42-49 in favor of Brandywine. It was then that Brandywine opened a significant point gap thanks to fortuitous penalties and skillful power jams, particularly one by Ultra-Shear-her. At half-time the Punishers trailed 65-102.

In derby, 37 points is not a safe lead, and as the second half began the Punishers strove to take it away from Brandywine. Apocelyse, LL Kill J, CaliforniKate, and Pretty Kayotic all fought their way through stiff Brandywine blocking. Drop Pop N Lock and Jacquelyn Heat did as much for Brandywine but Morristown narrowed the gap to 109-122 with 15 minutes remaining. Blocking on both sides toughened further, with both teams repeatedly setting up effective walls. There were more than a few pile-ups as jammers and blockers collided. Jacquelyn Heat, however, was able to reopen Brandywine’s lead with multiple laps. Morristown kept skating gamely, even knocking down Ultra-Shear-her in the final jam, but the Punishers ran out of time. Brandywine took the win with a final score 126-164.

MVPs:

For Brandywine – Kelly Krueger as blocker, Ultra-Shear-her as jammer

For Corporal Punishers – Lil Mo Peep as blocker, Apocelyse as jammer