Chicago Hogs 33 vs. Cincinnati Rivermen 21
Q1:
7-0: CHI PTD - QB Alfred Walton (2) > WR Bobby McClure (1)
Q2:
7-7: CIN RTD - RB Elmer Carson (2)
10-7: CHI FG - K Freddie Donnelly (2)
17-7: CHI PTD - QB Alfred Walton (3) > WR Nicholas Kramer (2)
Q3:
20-7: CHI FG - K Freddie Donnelly (3)
20-14: CIN KRTD - WR Stanley McIntyre (1)
Q4:
26-14: CHI RTD - RB Johnnie Hendrix (2) [PAT NO GOOD]
26-21: CIN RTD - RB Elmer Carson (3)
33-21: CHI PTD - QB Alfred Walton (4) > TE Glenn Chambers (1)

The Rivermen kept it a close game for the Hogs, proving that the Hogs may not run over the league this year.
The game was neck-and-neck entering the 4th, and Cincy had the ball with less than 5 minutes left, but the third INT from QB Lee Christian sealed the Rivs’ fate.
Cincinnati’s WR Stanley McIntyre was the first player to score on a kick return, taking the ball back 84 yards on a punt return.
That wasn’t enough to beat the Hogs though, as QB Alfred Walton had a solid game with 3 TD’s to put Chicago firmly on top of the league table.

Tri-Cities Hawks 14 vs. Detroit Knights 17
Q1:
Q2:
7-0: TRI PTD - QB Gilbert Clay (4) > WR Dale Riggs (1)
Q3:
7-7: DET PTD - QB Roy Woodward (2) > TE Francis Sellers (1)
Q4:
14-7: TRI RTD - RB Herman Gibbons (2)
14-14: DET PTD - QB Roy Woodward (3) > WR Lloyd Lawson (1)
14-17: DET FG - K David McGinnis (5)

A matchup that was expected to be an offensive shootout instead turned into a defensive grudge match.
Detroit were making mistakes early on, with QB Roy Woodward throwing 2 interceptions near the endzone, blowing any sort of advantage for the Knights.
However, with the game tied late in the 4th, it was a Tri-Cities fumble by RB Herman Gibbons that did them in.
That late mistake would lead Detroit that ended in a last-second field goal by K David McGinnis, ultimately winning the Knights the game.

Cleveland Crows 31 vs. Columbus Buckeyes 27
Q1:
7-0: CLB RTD - RB Martin Quinn (3)
Q2:
7-7: CLE PTD - QB Ray Hoffman (2) > WR Clifford Walsh (1)
7-10: CLE FG - K Daniel Simon (2)
Q3:
14-10: CLB PTD - QB Morris Cole (1) > WR Tony Carroll (1)
17-10: CLB FG - K Darrell Hoffman (2)
17-17: CLE PTD - QB Ray Hoffman (3) > WR Peter Crouch (1)
Q4:
20-17: CLB FG - K Darrell Hoffman (3)
20-24: CLE RTD - RB Tom McGee (1)
27-24: CLB RTD - RB Martin Quinn (4)
27-31: CLE PTD - QB Ray Hoffman (4) > WR Lonnie Ware (2)

The game of the week is the unlikeliest of any games this week, with both teams trading back and forth.
Columbus RB Martin Quinn was effectively carrying the Buckeyes, with almost 150 yards on the ground and 2 TD’s.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they would not get their first win this year, with 35 year old Ray Hoffman still showing some vintage moments in him with a clutch 3 TD performance.
Hoffman threw the game-winning pass to top WR Lonnie Ware late in the 4th to give the Crows their first win of the year in dramatic fashion.

Players of the Week:
OFF: CLE QB Ray Hoffman - 286 Passing Yards, 3 TD
DEF: CHI DB Tommy Lane - 2 INT
SPE: DET K David McGinnis - 1/1 FG, 2/2 XP, Kicked League’s First-Ever Game-Winning FG

Injuries:
CIN OL Victor Witt - 4 Weeks
CIN S Tom Silva - 4 Weeks
CLE OL Chester Garrett - Season
DET DL Roland Carr - 8 Weeks
TRI DL Robert Donaldson - 1 Week

Standings:
Chicago 2-0
Detroit 2-0
Tri-Cities 1-1
Cleveland 1-1
Cincinnati 0-2
Columbus 0-2

Power Rankings:
1: Chicago =
2: Detroit +1
3. Tri-Cities -1
4. Cleveland +1
5. Columbus +1
6. Cincinnati -2

Week 3 Preview:
SEP 17: CHI (2-0) @ CLE (1-1)
SEP 17: CIN (0-2) @ DET (2-0)
SEP 17: CLB (0-2) @ TRI (1-1)

Chicago 20, Cleveland 12
Q1:
3-0: CHI FG - K Freddie Donnelly (3)
Q2:
3-3: CLE FG - K Daniel Simon (3)
10-3: CHI DTD INT - DB Vincent Kelly
10-6: CLE FG - K Daniel Simon (4)
Q3:
10-9: CLE FG - K Daniel Simon (5)
10-12: CLE FG - K Daniel Simon (6)
Q4:
17-12: CHI PTD - QB Alfred Walton (5) > WR Nicholas Kramer (3)
20-12: CHI FG - Freddie Donnelly (4)

It was a rough week for both Chicago and Cleveland, but the Hogs grinded out a win.
The Crows did manage to out gain the Hogs in yardage, but they couldn’t find the endzone at all.
An interception by CHI DB Vincent Kelly returned for a TD seemed to turn the momentum in favor of Chicago in the second, but Cleveland took the lead off of 4 field goals by K Daniel Simon.
Chicago’s offensive production was limited in the first half, but put together two great drives in the fourth to retake the lead and eventually get the win.

Cincinnati 23, Detroit 13
Q1:
0-3: DET FG - K David McGinnis (6)
Q2:
7-3: CIN RTD - RB Elmer Carson (4)
10-3: CIN FG - K Bert Hubbard (3)
10-6: DET FG - K David McGinnis (7)
Q3:
13-6: CIN FG - K Bert Hubbard (4)
16-6: CIN FG - K Bert Hubbard (5)
16-13: DET PTD - QB Roy Woodward (4) > WR Lloyd Lawson (2)
Q4:
23-13: CIN DTD INT - DB Jim Farmer

Detroit’s mistakes from the previous two weeks finally came to bite them as the Rivermen came out with the first upset win of the league.
It was a back-and-forth affair for the first three quarters, but the Knights fell apart towards the end of the game.
Detroit QB Roy Woodward was solid, but found Cincinnati’s DB Jim Farmer two too many times for interceptions, where 1 of them was returned back for a touchdown.
The Knights stalled out after that pick-six, and the Rivermen finally got their well-deserved first win of the season after a rough start to the year.

Columbus 13, Tri-Cities 31
Q1:
3-0: CLB FG - K Darrell Hoffman (4)
3-7: TRI RTD - RB Herman Gibbons (3)
Q2:
10-7: CLB RTD - RB Martin Quinn (5)
Q3:
13-7: CLB FG - K Darrell Hoffman (5)
13-14: TRI PTD - QB Gilbert Clay (5) > WR Stuart Kane (3)
13-21: TRI PTD - QB Gilbert Clay (6) > WR John McLean (2)
Q4:
13-24: TRI FG - K Gene Fitzpatrick (3)
13-31: TRI PTD - QB Gilbert Clay (7) > TE Raymond Dougherty (1)

It was a surprisingly clean game between Columbus and Tri-Cities, where neither team turned over the ball.
After a lack of offensive production last week, the Hawks made up for it in plenty this week.
Tri-Cities QB Gilbert Clay went back to his normal form after a down week, throwing for almost 300 yards through the air and for 3 touchdowns.
Columbus actually had the lead in the 3rd quarter, but young RB Martin Quinn couldn’t carry the Buckeyes to victory.

Players of the Week:
OFF: TRI QB Gilbert Clay, 287 passing yard, 3 TD’s
DEF: CIN DB Jim Farmer - 2 INT, 1 TD
SPE: CLE K Daniel Simon - 4/4 FG

Injuries:
CHI WR Bobby McClure - Season
CIN OL Wilbur Nielson - Season

Standings:
Chicago 3-0
Detroit 2-1
Tri-Cities 2-1
Cleveland 1-2
Cincinnati 1-2
Columbus 0-3

Power Rankings:
1: Chicago =
2: Tri-Cities +1
3. Detroit -1
4. Cleveland =
5. Cincinnati +1
6. Columbus -1

Week 3 Preview:
SEP 24: DET (2-1) @ CHI (3-0)
SEP 24: CLB (0-3) @ CIN (1-2)
SEP 24: TRI (2-1) @ CLE (1-2)

Hey, my Rivermen picked up a win! I'd like to see them finish a few more drives with TDs instead of FGs, but a W is a W.

Hey! The Rivermen have won a couple!

Hey all, Dire here. It’s been a while since I posted one of these things. Don’t worry, I didn’t prematurely kill another one of my projects from lack of interest. There were a lot of things going on IRL that stunted any progress for this project, but now I believe it is the time to bring it back. The AFL is back! However, it will have a different format. I was never really a fan of the week-by-week posting process when I started posting the AFL, so to make it easier on myself to post and to manage, I'll start using the year-by-year posting I did with the EFL. So with all of that out of the way, here’s the long-awaited rest of the 1950 season!

1950 Season (Weeks 5-11):


Through the first four weeks of the inaugural AFL season, things were looking bright for the developing league. The Chicago Hogs were the team to beat, rolling out to a hot 4-0 start with help from QB Alfred Walton leading the charge on the offense and players like LB George Post and DB Vincent Kelly. The Hogs weren’t in the clear just yet, as the Tri-Cities Hawks were right on their tail with a high-powered offensive attack led by QB Gilbert Clay, RB Herman Gibbons, and WRs Stuart Kane, John McLane, and Dale Riggs. The Detroit Knights handed the Hawks their sole loss in week 2, but they don’t seem all right after losing 2 multi-score games to Cincinnati and Chicago. They started the year out strong at 2-0, but their lack of coaching skill is beginning to show as the Knights are starting to lose morale, with QB Roy Woodward and WR George Payne not looking like the stars they were made out to be. The team looking to take advantage of the Knights’ looming demise are the Cincinnati Rivermen, who share the same 2-2 record as Detroit. The Rivermen mostly relied on RB Elmer Carson for offensive production, but still had a solid defensive core led by DB Jim Farmer and LB Jim Norman. Then right at the bottom were Cleveland and Columbus, where both teams were struggling both on the field, and off the field, struggling to get fans into the stadium. The Buckeyes faced this issue more so than the Crows, as their on-the-field product was significantly worse than the Crows. 

When the final week was completed, there was a new team atop the rankings, and unsurprisingly, that new team was the Hawks. QB Gilbert Clay kept on his offensive attack, unanimously winning the first-ever Most Valuable Player award and never looking back from their week 2 loss to the Knights. Clay’s top target all year was WR Stuart Kane, where the duo teamed up for 11 of the 23 TD’s that Clay threw all season. Veteran RB Herman Gibbons still had a bit of spark in him, providing a bit of offensive production that Clay left behind. Their defense was solid enough, even with major injuries to their secondary with DB Oscar Blankenship out for the season and S Walter Carey out for the latter half of the season. The Hawks asserted their dominance over the league, with their front seven being good enough to hold offenses to an average of 13 points a game, while their offense scored almost 28 points a game. 

The team formerly at the top spot comes up right behind the Hawks, as the Hogs would be the team playing them in the inaugural championship game. Chicago remained undefeated until week 8, where they lost a close game to Tri-Cities. The Hogs hit a cold streak after that, losing 3 out of their last 4 games to narrowly lose out on the regular season championship, and nearly lost out on playing in the championship entering the penultimate week of the season in week 10. Luckily, they cruised to a win over the Buckeyes to effectively clinch their way into the championship. QB Alfred Walton stayed in the quarterback race with Tri-Cities’ Gilbert Clay, but the slump over the last 4 weeks put him firmly in second in the MVP race, but awarded him Offensive Player of the Year with his solid production. WR Nicholas Kramer and TE Glenn Chambers were his top targets all year, and injuries to WR’s Donnie Stout and Bobby McLure midseason hindered Walton’s ability to keep up offensively with the Hawks. Their defense was solid as well, with DB Vincent Kelly taking home Defensive Player of the Year with a breakout season at 35. After losing both regular season games to Tri-Cities this year, the Hogs look to get revenge on their rival in the championship game.

Cincinnati gave Chicago a run for their money in the last few weeks of the season in a surprise third place finish. They hung around the .500 mark all season, but were on the outside looking in coming off a win against Chicago in week 9, needing to win their remaining 2 games and have Chicago lose their remaining games to make it in on a miracle. RB Elmer Carson was effectively carrying the team with QB Lee Christian showing his age and mostly proving ineffective at throwing the ball. Carson limped the offense along, while the defense stood strong and tried to keep up with the lacking pace that the offense set up. DB Jim Farmer finished runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year, as he led the Rivermen secondary and defense to a potential championship berth. However, the next week, Chicago would beat the lowly Buckeyes and the Rivs would lose to the slumping Knights, ending their potential championship run right there. The Rivermen would end up finishing a game above .500, proving that there was some promise for the team that was struggling to find its identity at the beginning of the season. 

In a perpetual free-fall since week 3, Detroit fell all the way from a promising 2-0 start to end up finishing at a miserable 3-7. Blame was placed everywhere, from the young core not panning out like they did in previous seasons in the MWFC, the coaching staff proving ineffective at coaching a team, and most of all QB Roy Woodward being unable to effectively lead the team through the slump. Although most fans were placing the blame on the players, it was the coaching ability that was strongly affecting the players’ play. Owner/Coach August Riddle was placed most of the blame, as the coaching tree below didn’t exactly pan out as he wanted it to. The offensive play calling during their losing streak was especially atrocious, calling into question who should be calling plays on the offensive side of the ball. The Knights have been known to do things very traditionally, so firing their coaches mid-season didn’t seem like a viable option to Riddle. Their future remains very much in question, whether to continue on in their current state and hope that this year was just an anomaly, or to retool the coaching and/or player staff in order to make that push to the championship. 

The remaining two teams at the bottom, Cleveland and Columbus, were simply not that good. The Crows might have had the same record as the Knights, but only won twice against the Buckeyes and beat the lowly Knights in the last week of the season. They struggled to reel in fans, but ultimately secured enough ticket sales to not be a severe issue moving forward. The Crows had some flashes in the pan, but were ultimately mediocre at best and awful at worst.  The Buckeyes on the other hand, were even worse. Columbus’ only two wins came in a season sweep of Detroit, and were the worst team in the league this season. Their on-field product struggled to bring in fans, even compared to Cleveland’s draw of locals. Ohio Stadium was notoriously sparse during Buckeye games, and the college football team they share the stadium with drew massive crowds. Columbus’ future in the league is up in the air after this season, though the league wants to remain with the current teams they have at the moment and keep stability in the fragile young league. 

Awards:
Most Valuable Player: TRI QB Gilbert Clay
Offensive Player of the Year: CHI QB Alfred Walton
Defensive Player of the Year: CHI DB Vincent Kelly
Coach of the Year: TRI Vincent Merritt

Inaugural American Football Championship Game
Officially deemed the “Inaugural American Football Championship Game”, the championship pits the top two teams all season against each other for one final time. The Chicago Hogs were the team to beat for the first half of the season, until a late unraveling gave the regular season title away to the Tri-Cities Hawks. The Hawks went on a rampage offensively, and they don’t look like that is going to stop just because they have an extended break to the championship game. The teams get an extended break because the championship game will be hosted on Thanksgiving Day, one because of the increased attention the league would bring hosting it on that day and two because de facto president Donovan Hasenkamp is a man of spite and was told by MWFC commissioner Virgil Bradshaw that the AFL wouldn’t last past Thanksgiving. Who is to win the first AFL Championship? Only time will tell once the clock hits double zeros on Thanksgiving Day. 

C&C Appreciated! Who's your pick to win the first championship?