#12 Charm City Buries Madison, 250-96

By Justice Feelgood Marshall

Reprinted by kind permission of DerbyNewsNetwork.com

BALTIMORE, MD -- Although Madison came into this game as significant underdogs, they mostly held their own against hosting Charm City – for the first half. After falling into a big hole in the first jam, Madison hung tough to be down by a not-insurmountable 45 points at the break. However, the bottom fell out for Madison instantly in the second half as Charm City went on a 101-1 run over the half's opening 5 jams to turn the game into a blowout; in the end, Charm City was victorious 250-96.

Madison was on the wrong side of a nightmare jam to start this one off, as their leadoff jammer Wildberry Punch was boxed almost immediately during her opening pass and Madison's blockers kept missing Charm's Crowella De Vil on her way to a 27-0 opening frame. Though Madison's Charlie Hustle picked up lead on jam 2, Charm City's I.M. Pain still won the 4-3 jam, making it 31-3 after two jams.

To their credit, though, Madison didn't let the big opening blast shake them too much. They took lead on the majority of the jams in the first 10 minutes and had managed to close it to 47-26 with 13:20 to play in the first; after Wildberry Punch's first-jam penalty, she was on the right side of two separate Joy Collision trips to the box that helped Madison to close some of that gap.

Entering the last 10 minutes of the half, Madison was still just one big jam away at 51-30, but they were twice denied on back-to-back 4-0 jams on light packs, and Charm was up 59-30 with 9 minutes in the first half. A Crowella De Vil vs Wildberry Punch there ended up going the full two as both jammers were boxed behind very tough defense, but Punch eventually got the better of it with a 5-0. WIth 5:30 to play in the half, Charm City called timeout with a 59-35 advantage.

That turned out to be a significant turning point. Charm's ace jammer Joy Collision took a 4-0 next, and when Madison jammer Wildberry Punch hit the box during that jam, she set up a powerjam on a 2-2 pack for Charm's I.M. Pain, who dropped a game-changing 18-0. Suddenly, Madison had gone from being one big jam out of the game to looking at an imposing 81-35 deficit. Although Madison's Charlie Hustle won the final jam of the half over Crowella De Vil, Charm City was able to take a 87-42 lead into the break.

Madison had kept it essentially even with the exception of two major powerjams in the first half, but unfortunately for them, the second half began even worse than the first. Wildberry Punch hit the box and was given two minutes; I.M. Pain ran up 20 points before being sent to the box herself. But Punch, not realizing her penalty time wasn't concluded by Pain's entry, left the box early, picking up yet another minute in the box for the illegal procedure. That jam went 25-0 for Pain, and Crowella De Vil added 9-0 on the other side of the lengthy powerjam.

When Madison finally got a jammer again on the third jam of the half, it was Mouse's turn to cut her way to the box, and with a 4-2 pack advantage for I.M. Pain, it was a easy 24-0 for Pain. Madison called time there, but the damage had been done; Charm had more than doubled their lead in just three jams, putting them up 145-42 with 23 minutes left in the game.

Any hopes that Madison had of stopping the bleeding were erased following that jam when Madison yet again lost their jammer to the box -- this time, Charlie Hustle -- and Joy Collision was completely unstoppable on a 34-0 run, pushing the Charm lead to 182-42. From there, it was only a matter of time; Charm City didn't put too much more space between themselves and Madison, but they already had far more than enough. About 20 minutes later, Charm claimed victory by 154 points, 250-96.

Madison takes on #19 Carolina in a closed bout on Sunday morning. Charm City now awaits the beginning of Eastern Regionals, which they'll be hosting from Friday, September 16 to Sunday, September 18; they face #21 Boston in their first bout.