1950 NFA Standings:
Pittsburgh Ironmen: 6-0-2
Washington Pirates: 5-3
Philadelphia Hornets: 4-3-1
New York Cannons: 4-3-1
Boston Gaels: 3-5
Buffalo Tigers: 2-6 

The 1950 season was the season of the Ironmen, led by the first official NFA MVP Elijah Kingston. In his first season in Pittsburgh, Kingston scored a career high in almost all stats and led the Ironmen to an undefeated season. Next came the Pirates, coming off an amazing season, they regressed a tad,  suffering 3 losses, two of those to Pittsburgh. Third were the Hornets, who had the same record as the Cannons, who came in a ranking behind Philly because of a season opener lose to them. They got stomped 35-13. Coming in penultimately were the fallen kings of the NFA, in full rebuild mode the Gaels had the most losses in 15 years. Last place came the Tigers who actually improved by a game.The biggest game of the year came in week 5 when Pittsburgh played their second game against the Pirates.  The last meeting between the 2 teams came in week 2 where Kingston and Harold led the Ironmen to a surprising 28-21 nail bitter win back in Pittsburgh. This game however was in Washington, giving the Pirates the favorite to win. They wouldn’t however. Led by Kingston, the Ironmen led a 14 point, 4th quarter comeback. Scoring a game winning field goal as the seconds expired to give Pittsburgh the win. 
The MVP award would go to Elijah Kingston of the Pittsburgh Ironmen
The MOR award would go to RB Quinten Brookes of the Buffalo Tigers
The MVC award would go to Coach Bob Urchin of the Pittsburgh Ironmen

C&C appreciated, how did your team do?

Last edited by MyTeamIsDr.Pepper (10/04/2019 5:17 pm)

The 1950 Champions Bowl would take place in Pittsburgh, at the Ironmen Stadium, with 2 very offensive oriented teams. Pittsburgh was playing for their first ever championship. Washington on the other hand were playing in their record holding 4th Champions Bowl, looking for their 3rd Wagner Trophy.The game started off quick, WR Gabe Coleman took the opening kickoff to midfield. After a couple conversions on 3rd down, Washington finally forced the Ironmen to settle for 3. Washington would receive the kickoff and start at their 35 after a good 20 yard return. Gaines immediately started connecting to his receivers, picking up 30 yards in 4 attempts. The Pirates were also setting up their run game as they hoped. RB Nikolas Smith had gained 12 yards on his first run. Handing it to him again, Washington hoped to punch it into the redzone. Smith was rocked however, dropping the ball as he hit the ground. All 22 men on the field would jump on it. After seconds of silence. Ironmen defensive man Mike Bennett had two arms securely wrapped around the ball. He held it up into the sky and the crowd roared. Pittsburgh would march back down the field and put another 3 through the uprights giving them a 6-0 lead. Washington would run out the rest of the first quarter clock.
The second quarter started with Gaines getting sacked, losing 13 yards and forcing a 4th down. That was the theme of the rest of the half losing yardage and 4th downs. Both teams would exchange 3 and outs before Pittsburgh got the ball moving again. They would get 2 first downs before an incompletion on 3rd down forced them to take a long 49 yard field goal. It would be short. Washington would again be forced to punt. And with that came the end of the end of the first half.
The second half opened up with a scary play. WR Randolph, regarded as one of the best in the league, took the opening kickoff back 25 yards before being tackled and awkwardly landing on his leg. It was obvious from the moment of impact that it was broken. This would be a big blow to the Pirates offense. Gaines had targeted him 6 times already this game and he had 38 yards reception on the night, the most of any player. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he was helped off the field. After play was picked up again, Washington seemed inspired to win it for Larry. They marched down the field and were close to taking a 7-6 lead but a great goal line defense prevented Smith from running it in 3 straight times and forced the Pirates to settle for 3. Pittsburgh would retaliate with a long tedious drive that constantly seemed to be at 3rd down. Kingston took almost the rest of the quarter to finally connect with one of his receivers for the first TD of the night, giving Pittsburgh a 13-3 lead.
The 4th quarter picked up with a third down conversion for Gaines and the Pirates, using a combination of strategic passing we’ve seen Gaines due since 1946 and a strong running game we saw the Pirates storm down the field. With about 8 minutes left in the game, Washington stood at the Pittsburgh 7, looking to get back into the game. Gaines took the snap and threw a quick pass to the corner. The pass was sloppy and rushed, usually this would’ve been okay, as Randolph was quick and usually took his defender off guard. This wasn’t to Randolph however, his sub had been beaten by his defender. Who snatched the ball out of the air. He would’ve taken it back to the house, but Gaines made an incredible tackle stopping him in their own 30. And with that was the game. Pittsburgh took 5 minutes to get 35 yards up the field. Finally forcing a 4th down, Washington was pinned back into their own endzone by a great punt. With roughly 2 minutes to go they couldn’t come back. Pittsburgh would win the 1950 Champions Bowl 13-3.


C&C appreciated! How'd your team do. 
And congrats to the Ironmen! (and Steelman )

The incoming offseason saw a lot of player changes and the Expansion Draft! The biggest of all moves however was the best QB from the NEFL, joined the NFA. This because the NEFL finally collapsed, unable to compete with the NFA. QB Wayne Pearson joined the Buffalo Tigers, making them instant contenders. Pearson led his Hartford Reds to an 20-0 record in the past 2 seasons, including 2 NEFL championships. The Tigers also collected RB Oliver Black. Black had been to 2 Champions Bowls with the Hornets, winning one of them. Smaller moves consisted of the Pirates losing two key defensive players in MLB Geoff Brantley and LE Steven Bowls. The Gaels lost long time RB John Wiseman to retirement, Wiseman was a crucial piece of the teams first few Champions Bowls and has been with the team since 42. He played for the Baltimore Anchors of the original AFA prior to his time in Boston. 

2 teams made changes to their look this offseason. Both kind of big as well. 
First, the Tigers who did some organization to their identity, updating and bringing the stripes from their away uniforms home uniform, and adding some stripes to their pants.
Second was the Hornets, who completely remodeled their identity. Exchanging blue for black and updating their hornet logo. They go back to their roots. They wore black and yellow for the franchise's first 15 years.
This offseason obviously included the introduction of the new expansion teams.
Chicago unveiled their identity first, at Barber Field. They chose the name Zephyrs, after the city’s nickname; The Windy City. 
Next came Detroit.
Owner Robert Watson chose the name Bombers. He chose the name to honor the Willow Run manufacturing plant, which is located right outside of Ann Arbor and helped produce thousands of B-24 Liberator planes. One of which Watson was a pilot of.
Finally the offseason also consisted of the Expansion Draft. Outside of the picks, this sparked conversations into implementing a proper official draft to the NFA offseason. Nothing came about it however.The more significant picks in the draft were the Zephyrs taking RB Daniel Becker with the first pick out of college. The Zephyrs taking the top Defensive player in the draft, Jack Township, and the Bombers picking up the first QB of the draft Louis Thompson.

C&C appreciated, how do you like the new teams and new looks?

Love the update to the Hornets, I liked the blue, but black looks great and fits the name perfectly. I love the Zephyrs logo, it reminds me of the old Chiefs logo. I also really dig the classic look of Detroit, the two shades of brown suits them well.6.2.7

As a Pittsburgh guy I hate black and gold on a Philly team. I know, alternate universe, but I kinda liked the Pennsylvania blue on them, made them unique for a hornet mascot team. That yellow home jersey is nice though.

Good updates to the Tigers. Looks like they'll be gunning for the Ironmen. The Chicago identity is not where I thought you'd go with it but it looks fantastic and very era-appropriate as others have mentioned with the old Packers and Chiefs logos. I like the two-tone brown palette for Detroit, another interesting choice, but it's super unique and underused in sports. Nice work!