NeoPrankster wrote:

Will there be any rival leagues popping up in this scenario?

You'll find out 



The Pirates and Zephyrs would meet for the 12th ever Champions Bowl in Centennial Stadium in the wonderful New York City, New York.The game would start off as a defensive battle, both teams failing to get any first downs on their first drives. Washington would drive down the field next, led by Emmonds, and get the chance to take a 3-0 lead. But they miss it about an inch to the right. This would be the closest the Zephyrs let the Pirates get to scoring until the 3rd quarter. The Zephyrs followed Washington and one upped them by finding  Raschall in the endzone to put the first points on the board. Emmonds would then get the Pirates a first down after a spectacular 3rd down scramble, where he dove for the first, just barely getting it. But on the very next play he watched as he sailed one straight into the hands a Zephyrs defender. A miscommunication between him and his receiver gave Chicago the ball at midfield. Chicago made good work of this situation. Hogg faked the hand off to FB Brad Cohn and ended up scrambling. He managed to make it all the way to the 5 without being touched. But as he came down, he landed on his arm awkwardly. He had to be helped off the field with what appeared to be an elbow injury. The game must continue however, even when a top 3 QB is injured. To substitute for Hogg, was veteran QB Lonnie Sanders. Sanders had played occasionally throughout the season but never at such high stakes. He managed to score on that drive to bring the lead to 14. Washington, tried to retaliate but were stopped and forced to punt. Sanders on his first full drive, managed to throw a couple passes as Raschall and Cohn took most of the snaps, as they did in the previous week. Within about 7 minutes, they managed to make it down the field and punch in another 7. Washington failed to get anything in before half, and went to the locker rooms down 21-0, only managing to make 1 trip to the redzone all half. The Zephyrs went in to half with only one thing on their mind, and it was all worries about their leader. Hogg hadn’t been ruled out yet and as they took the field to start the second half, it seemed as though their half time concerns we’re worthy, and that he was out for the rest of the game. However, after kickoff, Hogg jogged onto the field looking loose and comfortable. On the first snap he slightly over threw his receiver but he looked fine. But as the Zephyrs slowly made their way down the field, Scottie’s throws kept getting worse and he was eventually pulled again for Sanders who led the Zephyrs to score again. From this point on, even with their backup leading the charge, it was all Chicago. Washington only really got one more chance, and that was only after a forced fumble by DE Art Walters on Sanders led to them missing another field goal. The Zephyrs would continue to score on both sides of the ball, totalling 45 points and 4 turnovers, Sanders, the back up, throwing for 2 TD’s in a shutout blow out for football immortality! Defensive leader; James Carpenter would take home the MVP in his 2 sack performance.

Almost had them! So super close. Just a few points away! A couple bounces our way and it be us with that trophy....

Wallflower wrote:

Loving the Vet. Sanders coming in to shine in a big game that's huge!

Thehealthiestscratch wrote:

Almost had them! So super close. Just a few points away! A couple bounces our way and it be us with that trophy....

​

QCS wrote:

Holy cow, a shoutout in the championship game? Washington has got to be kicking themselves. Good stuff to Chicago, and I love your playoff template!

I'm glad y'all enjoyed the game! And HealthiestScratch, the Pirates are having a resurgence, a few upgrades to the defense and this team could really flourish. So I wouldn't be too discouraged by this performance, the playoff run really showed what this team could do! 

1958 Offseason

6th Annual NFA Draft
1st- QB Donald McCloud - Jackson University - Boston Gaels
2nd- RB Bob Dimitroff - Atlanta State University - St. Louis Tigers
3rd- T Earl Glass - University of Delaware State - Pittsburgh Ironmen
4th- QB Jim Sandusky - Fort Worth University - New York Cannons
5th- G Ed Owens - University of Illinois State - Cleveland Rangers 

Other Notable Picks:
9th- WR Wally Fields - Jackson University - Philadelphia Hornets
16th- RB Perry Plumfield - University of North Dakota - Minneapolis Blue Ox
20th- HB Tommy Brock - University of Lake Michigan - Pittsburgh Ironmen
31st- DE Curley Smith - Tennessee University - Philadelphia Hornets 

Roster Changes
-One of the bigger stories in the off season was the dismantling of the Hornets defense. Led by CB John Walker, who was key in their most recent Champions Bowl win, and the center of their defense leaving for Cleveland. The 28 year old led the league in interceptions the past 2 years and will lead the young Rangers core. Joining him in Cleveland, and also leaving Philly, is DE Don Livingston and 2nd year safety, Rocco Johnson. Livingston however is coming off a back injury that pulled him out for the last 5 games of the season and the NFA East Championship.
-Cleveland was once again a big winner when they landed a trade that sent DE Ace Rupper and next year’s 3rd and 5th round picks for former MVP Wayne Pearson. Pearson is coming off his worst season as a Tiger, splitting half the time with rookie Penny Icarus. The 35 year old is nearing the end of his career. He hoped to finish it with his Tigers, but St. Louis had other plans.
-Ironmen trade QB Johnny Guido after a poor 3 years in Pittsburgh. They ship him off to St. Louis in an exchange for QB Penny Icarus, who played decent coming off his rookie year.
-Bombers pick up RB Teddy Hinton after being released by the Zephyrs. Hinton only took 4 snaps last year as a rookie, but in college, Hinton had a total of 13 rush TD’s for Michigan A&M his senior year and ranks among the all time rushing leaders for the Rams. 

Coaching Changes
-The biggest firing in years comes when the Ironmen and legendary coach Bob Urchin agree you separate after almost 15 seasons of companionship. Urchin coaches Pittsburgh to 2 Champions Bowl victories in 3 appearances, and also coached at Eastern Pennsylvania University when they won 3 straight national titles from 41-43. In his place Pittsburgh has hired Thomas Woods, a former opposing coach, who coached the Buffalo Tiger to back to back Champions Bowl matchups against the Ironmen.
-The Tigers fired Thomas Woods after a good tenure. But as the team has struggled in the past few years, they’ve had to look to make some tough decisions, the decision to move on from Woods being one of those. In his place they coax Pirates OC Ray Warren away from Washington, and hire him as the teams head coach.
-The Pirates lose both their offensive and defensive coordinator, OC Ray Warren taking a HC job in St. Louis, and DC Cassidy Smith taking a HC at the collegiate level. The bring in OC Jim Johnson and DC George Corker as replacement. 

League News
-In retirement news, QB Kenny Durham retires after a 14 year long career. Playing most significantly for the Hornets, he went to 2 Champions Bowls and was a fan favorite in philly. He then had a short stint with Pittsburgh before finishing his career out with New York, where he went to another Champions Bowl.
-The League adds a defensive player of the year award to it's postseason awards.
-The Cannons celebrate their 60th year as a franchise this year, they’ll be switching their home uniform to that worn back in the 20’s when the team won 4 AFA championships.

Identity Changes
-New York adds an alternate home uniform to match the one they wore in the 20’s; specifically the 1923 championship season uniform. A white shirt with a red and yellow chest stripe, a metallic gold cap, and red pants is what they’ll be wearing for their home games.
-The Ironmen added their PI logo to their helmet.

 

C&C Appreciated!

How is it that even in a fictional league, Detroit football is plagued by playing down to their competition and underachieving but still showing flashes of enough greatness that fans (like me) continue to support them? 

...GO BOMBERS!!!

1958-59 NFA Postseason 

New York Cannons at Cleveland Rangers: 
Before the game, New York asked if they were allowed to wear their throwbacks, even though they were the away team, Cleveland allowed, even though the throwback was to the team that trampled the former Cleveland Lions, in the same stadium, in the 1922 AFA championship game.  In Cleveland’s first ever postseason game, the matchup against the Cannons. The game started off with an incredible 45 yard kickoff return by New York. This gave rookie QB Jim Sandusky and the Cannons offense a great starting position. Sandusky however crumbled under the pressure and missed his target on the first 3 plays of the game, resulting in a quick three and out for the Rangers defense. Cleveland then was just as effective on offense, or should I say New York’s defense was just as incapable as their offense. Cleveland managed their way down the field, led by veteran Pearson, a man who’s trying to play in his 4 Champions Bowl. After finally managing a stop, the Cannons forced Cleveland to take the 3. Now back on offense, Sandusky had a chance to redeem himself, he however failed to do so, and continued missing his targets. RB Travis Tidwell carried the team to 2 first downs as his QB went 0-7 on his first 7 throws, but that’s as much as he could do before they were stopped once again. Cleveland went down the field and hit another field goal before turning around and stopping New York again. Sandusky converted his first pass, however, it was to himself, as he caught his own deflected pass and ran for 5 yards. Entering the 2nd quarter, Cleveland had the chance to take a two possession lead but the Cannons got a stop finally. Both teams exchanged punts before Cleveland finally broke into the end zone to score with about a minute left in the half. Pearson has faked the handoff and threw a 13 yard beauty to an open Ezekiel Allenson for the 7. Cannons would heave a couple downfield in hopes of making a dent before half but failed to do so, and walked to their lockers down 13-0 at half.Starting the second half with the ball, Pearson and the Rangers offense had their best drive yet and quickly made their way down the field for another 7. The Cannons had no stop for Cleveland’s offense, and their defense had them tied up pretty well. They really needed Sandusky to play better, otherwise they wouldn’t have a shot. So they trotted back onto the field still holdin onto Sandusky at QB, hoping they wouldn’t need to pull him. After going 3-15 throwing in the first half, the Ranger defense wasn’t expecting the first play of their drive to be a shot downfield. It took them completely off guard and Darius Brown, a long time Cannons, was wide open for the 72 yard reception that set New York up in the red zone. Tidwell pushed his way to a first down in 2 runs and scored in another 2, putting NYC on the board finally. They then turned around and manage to stop Cleveland in their own territory and got the ball back with a chance to take the lead. This hope was quickly crushed however when Sandusky reverted to his first half self and overthrew his target and landed himself his first turnover of the game. Cleveland would take this opportunity to extend their lead. New York had nothing to stop Pearson, and, specifically on this drive, RB Mohammed Lowe. Lowe ran for 44 yards in this one drive, and eventually pushed Cleveland’s lead to 13. Entering the fourth, Cannons fans were as disappointed as ever, as the Rangers forced another punt and turned it into another 3 for them. All New York could manage was 3 before their loss was official. Cleveland pulled it out at home; 23-10, and punched their ticket to St. Louis for the Champions Bowl.


Detroit Bombers at Chicago Zephyrs: 
This was the 3rd straight matchup of these teams in the conference championship, and it was as good as it always is. Detroit started with the ball with Henderson at the helm. Henderson didn’t waste time taking them down field, he had a fire in his eyes and wanted another chance at winning the Champions Bowl, the Zephyrs were standing in his way of that. While the Z-men defense wasn’t the greatest in the league, they certainly weren’t pushy, they managed a couple third downs and almost a forced fumble. None of this stopped Detroit though, as before long they took a 7-0 lead, handing the ball back to RB Barnes for the score. Now Chicago had the ball, and on of the best one-two punches in all of sports. An MVP pair in Raschall and Hogg led a 2 minute, 6 play drive down the field, and tied the game at 7. But instead of kicking it back to Detroit, former MOC Ralph Brunswick, tried to get them off guard and pulled an onsides kick out. They failed to convert though and gave Detroit the ball at the 50. Not long after the Bombers scores, Chicago had held them to just 3 though, which is good when you have a team that gets 7 on just about every drive. Speaking of 7, did I mention Hogg already got them another score? No? Well he did, in a drive that was just longer than the first, Hogg pushed the Zephyrs to a 14-10 lead heading into the second quarter.Both teams exchanged scoring drives before we had our first punt, the Chicago defense managed to sack Henderson for a loss of 9 that just pushed them out of comfortable field goal range, and forced them to punt. Chicago took advantage of this and scored right as the half ended, Raschall picking up his 3rd TD of the night as Chi-town lead 28-17 at half.The second half was just as exciting as the first. Chicago received the ball to start and scored again, such a surprise. Detroit would follow suit, but just like Chicago did in the first half, they attempted an onside kick. Unlike the Zephyrs however, they recovered it, and got the opportunity to go down and score. This would put them less than a score away. Henderson as motivated as ever, fueled by the legendary Luckiest Catch in Football, succeeded in this feat and put his Bombers within striking distance. Putting another 7 on the board after finding TE Sullivan Moss in the center of the end zone. Now only down 35-31.To start the 4th, Detroit would kick it back normally, no offsides this time, as they’ve lost the element of surprise. This wouldn’t mean there weren't any surprises however as some confusion on the field led to a kick return touchdown. Players said later that they thought that he was down, however he was never ruled down, so as everyone started walking off the field WR Elliot Garrison still had the ball and kept running and was gone by the time anyone had realized. This was the nail in the coffin, Chicago now up two scores, just had to waste time. They did just that. Henderson still managed a quick score, but handing the ball back to Raschall and crew was the nail in the coffin. Chicago took it down in a grudgingly long drive and scored to put them up 2 scores with a minute left. Chicago had punched their ticket to their 2nd straight Champions Bowl; 49-38.


Here's how the bracket is looking!

C&C appreciated!

A little note here at the end, sorry about the unexpected absence, took a needed break to work on some other stuff, i'm glad to be back working on this!