Appalachian nearly upsets Kill Devil in busy State Games slate
Appalachian pushed Kill Devil to 194-192 before Blue Ridge and Fayetteville widened the gap in a packed State Games weekend at Greensboro Sportsplex.
Appalachian came within two points of Kill Devil, falling 194-192 in the tightest bout of the 2026 BODYARMOR State Games: Roller Derby and setting the tone for a weekend that moved quickly from a near-upset to more decisive gaps across the slate. The result at Greensboro Sportsplex, on June 27-28, gave the North Carolina weekend an early jolt before Blue Ridge and Fayetteville began to separate themselves from the rest of the field.
Relentless Roller Derby hosted the event in Greensboro for the second year roller derby was featured in the State Games, and the scale was bigger than a single weekend bracket. North Carolina Amateur Sports said the 2026 BODYARMOR State Games took over the Greensboro area from May 30 through June 28, drew more than 11,000 athletes, and included 24 sports. Within that larger festival, roller derby stood out as one of the most concentrated looks at the state’s current depth, with 11 WFTDA teams from North Carolina and South Carolina and a juniors expo game folded into the schedule.
The Saturday slate showed how varied the field was. Appalachian’s narrow loss to Kill Devil was followed by Carolina’s 165-86 defeat to Blue Ridge, Greensboro’s 148-135 win over Carolina Boot, Kill Devil’s matchup with Soda City, Fayetteville’s 148-101 win over BRRD Retrogrades, and Carolina’s 161-86 victory over Lowcountry. Sunday kept the same mix of styles and levels, with Relentless facing Blue Ridge Retrogrades, Fayetteville meeting Soda City, Blue Ridge YallStars taking on the High Rollers, a juniors expo game, and Appalachian closing with a 143-127 win over Carolina Boot.
Blue Ridge turned in the weekend’s most forceful results, beating Carolina by 79 points and then hammering Lowcountry 233-58. Fayetteville also looked sharp across two different kinds of wins, first by 47 over BRRD Retrogrades and then by 98 over CRD: Soda City Jerks. Those margins mattered because they showed teams not just winning, but sustaining pressure once games opened up. Greensboro’s 13-point win over Carolina Boot was the other close call among the home-state matchups, but the biggest measuring stick remained Appalachian’s two-point miss against Kill Devil, the game that suggested the gap between the middle and top of the weekend was thinner than several of the final scores later made it seem.
Relentless, founded in 2022, is a member-run nonprofit based in Greensboro and says its work centers on queer, trans, and gender-expansive inclusion. That identity gave the State Games weekend a sharper local meaning: not just a sanctioned slate, but a snapshot of how Greensboro’s newer derby presence is building competition, visibility, and a wider path for skaters moving from juniors to adult play and from local bouts to regional sanctioning.
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