Sonoma vs Santa Cruz Re-Cap

Leagues: Sonoma County Roller Derby vs. Santa Cruz Roller Girls
Teams: Wine Country Homewreckers vs. SC All Star Travel Team
Date: April 18th, 2009 @ Cal Skate in Rohnert Park, CA
Halftime Score: 103 to 29 Sonoma
Final Score: 167 to 56 Sonoma

I've been tooting the Sonoma County horn for a little while now, but I am ready to publicly say that I think 2009 is the season that Sonoma County will shake-up the rest of California. Unfortunately it looks like the Homewreckers only have games scheduled against Sac City and B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls for the rest of the season. But if they perform well, they will definitely make their mark on the West Coast roller derby scene.

In the beginning of the game, it looked like Sonoma may have some penalty trouble for the night as they skated down one or two players for the entire first four jams. However, the team quickly righted themselves and after that, the penalties for both packs were pretty even.

Even though they were skating in a diminished pack in the beginning, the Sonoma jammers set the speedy, slick tone for the night as they picked up a 34 to 4 point lead in just the first ten minutes of the game. Sonoma's jammers are well know for being fast, agile, and impossible to knock down. I know it throws teams for a loop when they play in the Rohnert Park rink against them. The floor there is very fast and many blockers aren't used to the tempo that Sonoma sets. I know that Santa Cruz got themselves in a little bit of trouble with at least four jammer trips to the box in the first half. But it seems that they adapted to the floor later on as only one jammer went to the box in the second period.

On the Sonoma side, there was a friendly rivalry brewing between jammers The Teacher and Phantom Payne. Phantom Payne barely won the inside competition as she came out with 51 points in nine jams. The Teacher kept right up with 50 points in 10 jams. Phantom Payne captured six lead jammer calls with Teacher taking seven. As you can see, these two powerhouse jammers are neck and neck with each other and their team definitely benefits!

All On Ya jammed seven times and picked up 14 points. She picked up an impressive five lead jammer calls. For most of the second period All On Ya worked in the pack as a voracious blocker and at the end of the night, she was rewarded with an MVP trophy for her team.

A pleasant surprise for the night came in dedicated blocker Scait Riot when she donned the jammer cap three times and ended up with an incredible 26 points. In the second to last jam in the second period, she scored 20 points which definitely pumped up the crowd.

Also scoring for Sonoma was High Roller with a consistent 22 points in three jams and U Wish Trish with four points in one jam. D. Enforcer and Lady Sparks took a turn but were kept off the scoreboard.


The scoring superstar for Santa Cruz was jammer Candie Hooligan. Candie participated in 14 jams and took in 32 points and five lead jammer calls. With more than half of her teams points, Candie Hooligan received an MVP award for Santa Cruz.

While Sonoma concentrated mostly on three super-star jammers, Santa Cruz spread out the jamming duties a little more. Kicken Red Vixen had 10 points in three jams, Sheila Princess of Power had seven points in eight jams, Shamrock N Roller had four points in two jams, and Lulu Lockjaw took three points in seven jams. Pippi Hardsocking also jammed three times but was shut down in the scoring department.


One thing about this game that made me so happy was how clean and controlled everyone was. The reffing was near flawless (mark that down, you won't hear me say it again). The jams were quick and clean. There were only two jams in the entire night where no lead jammer was called. There were no dirty plays, no temper tantrums, no drama. Everyone just did their job and kept their cool.

Not only that but there were no weak links! I tried to take notes on all the big hits or the containing of a jammer and my notebook quickly filled up with names. I marked down big hits for D.Enforcer, Big Nick, Pain Galaura, Rowdy Roughrider, Raven Von Kaos, and Pippi Hardsocking. I had jammer take downs noted for Lulu Lockjaw, Brawley Parton, Eden Yourheartout, and Honey D. Luxe. I noted jammer containment and re-engagement by Scait Riot, Roxy 8 Arr, Hell Louise, Rosie Road Rash, and Foxee Firestorm. Everyone was involved and everyone played a role.


All in all, this was a very classy game. I have major respect for Santa Cruz. I know it's easy to get demoralized when things start to go haywire. But it really feels like they came out after halftime with a renewed mentality and purpose. They were able to cut down the points Sonoma scored almost in half in the second part of the game. Every team suffers a big loss at some point or another. It truly becomes a learning experience and it reflects the mental strength of your team if you can calmly take stock of what happened and then shake it off at the after party (and there was plenty of shaking at the Karaoke bar after party!).

Upcoming games for the team teams are:
Sonoma vs The Outfit in Chicago on May 16th
Santa Cruz vs ? on May 16th in Santa Cruz

Sonoma County Roster: All On Ya / Big Nick / D.Enforcer / High Roller/ Honey D. Luxe / Lady Sparks / Pain Galuara / Phantom Payne / Rosie Road Rash / Roxy 8-ARRR / Scait Riot / Seam Ripper / The Teacher / U Wish Trish

Santa Cruz Roster: Brawley Parton / Candie Hooligan / Cleopatra Catastrophe / Eden Youheartout / Foxee Firestorm / Hell Louise / Kicken Red Vixen / Lulu Lockjaw / Pippi Hardsocking / Raven Von Kaos / Rowdy Roughrider / Roxy Scarmichael / Shamrock n Roller / Sheila Princess of Power