In a roller derby finish that was as dramatic as it was thrilling, the Jet City Bombers of Everett held on for a 195-194 victory over the Boardwalk Bombshells of Santa Cruz, Calif., in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association Division II national championship match Sunday in Milwaukee, Wis.
The Bombers, an all-star team of skaters from the four Jet City Rollergirls league teams, fell behind early, rallied to go in front, and then held off the Bombshells in the late minutes for a remarkable one-point victory.
Officials carefully checked the score at the end, and the Bombshells even requested and were granted an official review for another score check. Though fans in the arena were calling, “One more jam, one more jam …” match officials determined the score was correct and final.
“It was very exciting,” said Angi Kindred Morse of Snohomish, who skates as Whoa Nellie! “It was back and forth. We’d run the score up a little bit, and Santa Cruz would do their best to catch back up. So the score bounced back and forth a lot, and until the very end we didn’t know how it was going to end.”
The final and official word “was definitely very emotional,” she said. “I cried and screamed with excitement.”
The match’s final few minutes “were just crazy intense,” said Meghan Smet of Redmond. “It was very anxious and a little bit physical. … There were bodies all over the place.”
After time expired, she added, “the scoreboard said we were one point up, but we were all waiting with bated breath to make sure that’s what the final score was. And they said it was.”
The Division II national playoffs were for teams not ranked in the top 40 by the WFTDA.
Winning at nationals “feels really good,” Kindred Morse said. “There’s a feeling of sisterhood from being on this team with each other, and winning has definitely helped with that.”
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