winning with head, heart and teamwork.

The Oz Roller Girls faced a real tough test over the weekend to eke out a 185-183 win at the wire over Watertown’s rugged Black River Rollers. The win said just as much about the head and hearts — and teamwork — of the Oz as much as anything.

It was an exceedingly physical bout filled with hard hits and downed skaters. Von Diesel, the Oz captain and emotional leader, tore her ACL early in the bout and is essentially lost for the season. The Black River Rollers had some of their skaters injured, but for the most part meted out more punishment. They took a 13-point lead to halftime, and the home side had to regroup without Von’s blocking and leadership on the floor.

But regroup they did. They talked about jammer awareness and adjusted their strategy at halftime. Despite the beating they took, the Oz girls kept their heads, avoided retaliation and remembered to play their game. Bit by bit, they ate into the visitors’ lead. They showed a lot of heart, and even as they absorbed more punishment, their endurance and support for each other kept them strong.

But the turning point came when Oz put their brains into play. A jam was starting when Oz jammer Masso-Kiss-Tic Mandy was almost set to return from the penalty box. Since the opposing jammer has to wait for the pack to clear before their start whistle blows, Oz instead skated slow and even looped back to confound the opponents. The stall tactic worked as Mandy’s penalty elapsed as Oz kicked into gear. She flew past the pack, turned on the jets and racked up points to propel the home team toward the lead.

It came down to the last minute and a half, with Oz leading 185-183. Certified Public Assassin, another one of our top jammers, had the star with getting lead jammer — with that designation’s opportunity to end the jam — our most important goal. The four Oz blockers executed their roles with precision, CPA hit the holes and captured lead jammer. When the clock wound down to about 9 seconds, and to keep the other jammer from scoring, CPA put her hands to her hips and called off the jam. Since the clock runs unless there’s a timeout and there are 30 seconds between jams, pandemonium ensued as the seconds ticked off. The clock struck 0:00, the crowd went nuts and Oz collected its second home win in as many bouts.

The home team could have taken the punishment and folded. Individual skaters could have abandoned the team concept and tried to win by themselves … a strategy that tends to lose bouts. But they hung tough, and hung together. They used their brains to get Mandy a great jam, and their brawn to get CPA the lead jam in the final bout. In facing adversity and finding a way to win, Oz grew as a team. Because, more than anything, they played as a team.