American Football Association Cup 1916 - Western Region

In the Western Region, the Los Angeles Pumpjacks were on a mission to add to their laurels.  Having won the Western Regional Division, they had hopes to become the first Western club to claim the AFA Cup.  They didn’t have an easy road as they slid by 3:2 over the host Denver Snowcaps.  Then it was a derby matchup against Los Angeles Victoria in which the Jacks prevailed 4:3.  Finally, they edged the Stockton Goalseekers 3:2 to earn their spot in the Regional Final. 

On the other side of the bracket, it was Sacramento River Deltas who advanced to the Regional Final.  Opening the tournament with a late goal 1:0 victory over Berkeley Vespas, upsets led to a relatively easy opponents in the San Francisco Seahunters and Pasadena Pacifics in the following rounds.



The Oil Field in Los Angeles was gushing with excitement for the Western Regional Final of the AFA Cup.  Expectations were high for the hosts to have an easy time with the Sacramento River Deltas.  However, the visitors squashed that thought in the opening minute with Jude Whitney’s long range bomb.  The Pumpjacks were still reeling when an Aaron Pruitt cross was volleyed in by Arthur Delleman to double the lead.  Harsh words that came out of the stands seemed to wake up the Pumpjacks, and in the 14th minute, Wyatt Livingston took a drop pass from Ralph Noble and slotted it home.

The Pumpjacks began pressing at that point, and Sacramento found some space on the counter-attack to push Joe Barton through for a third goal.  The vaunted Los Angeles defense was lacking this day.  Hope was reignited however a scant two minutes later as Marlon Pennington blasted a 25-yard free kick over the wall to cut the deficit.  The crowd responded and urged their boys on with deafening volume.  The sound level got inconceivably higher in the 33rd minute when Chris Duarte’s diving header from a Kasen Larsen corner kick knotted things up. 

That is how things ended up at the halftime break.  Immediately after the second half kicked off, the Pumpjacks were running all over the field with seemingly limitless energy.  Ralph Noble ran like a wild man at the River Deltas’ Jonny Dalton in the back, stole the ball, and immediately launched it past an unprepared Brodie Good for the lead.  After that it was one-way traffic towards the Sacramento goal.  While the Pumpjacks did not score, the relentless pressure kept the River Deltas from rarely crossing the halfway line.  With the victory, the Pumpjacks were Western Regional Cup champions.

Nice!  Gotta love the all Tennesse final, (which easily could have been an all Texas affair looking at the semi-finals)!

Love the dedication you have for this, always look forward to seeing more!

Your AFA Cup is a better setup the US Open Cup

American Football Association Cup 1916 – Semi-Final #2

Columbia Park was brimming with excitement as Philadelphia Sports Club welcomed the Memphis Egyptians in the second semi-final of the AFA Cup.  It had been over a decade since the Sports had last lifted the trophy, and the local fans were eager to see their pinstriped boys win.  Legendary manager Connie Mack was fuming on the Sports sideline when the Egyptians scored after only 3 minutes off a quick throw-in to an unmarked Matthew Kirk.  An errant cross from Cooper Stein found the back of the net and drew the Sports even in the 10th minute.  Charlie Landry answered for the Egyptians 4 minutes later when he pickpocketed defender Hugh Monroe and went unopposed against keeper Bruce Henson.  After that, all the action went Philadelphia’s way.  The two Gold Star forwards of the Sports – Peter Larson and Robby Chase – led the way.  Larson equalized for Philadelphia in the 22nd minute, overlapping and then finishing off a pass from Chase.  Larson then dropped a pass back to Javier Best at the edge of the penalty area, who buried a shot in the top corner to give Philadelphia a 3:2 lead.  Ten minutes after halftime, it was Larson returning the favor to Chase, setting up the Inside Left for Philadelphia’s fourth goal.  In the 64th minute, some snappy passing on the left side between Larson and Chase focused all of the Egyptian defenders on them, allowing Javier to sneak up unmarked from his Right Halfback position.  Larson found him, and Best dribbled past a helpless Kingston Payne to end the scoring at 5:2.
 

American Football Association Cup 1916 – Finals: Second Leg

Nervous excitement rumbled through Columbia Park as the locals could almost taste a second American Football Association Cup title.  The Sports had disappointed their fans so many times over the years that the fact that the teams drew in the first leg brought no real comfort.  Still, Connie Mack’s boys felt that they could win today and stake their claim to being the best in the country and the pre-eminent club in the City of Brotherly Love.

The Sports got off to a good start when Art Christopher zig-zagged through a few Brewmaster defenders to post an early lead.  Not many other scoring opportunities occurred in the first half, so it remained a 1:0 lead for Philadelphia at halftime.

The second half saw a lot more excitement, when barely two minutes in, Joseph Johnson connected with a thundering left-footed volley off of a Noel Fritz corner kick to knot the score.  Jacob Meadows put the home fans at ease when he answered three minutes later by finishing off a quick combo from Peter Larson.  The latter gave the Sports even more comfort when he launched a long range chip over a completely surprised Cannon Craig to make it 3:1.  Milwaukee, urged on by legendary coach Pat O’Dea, began pushing numbers forward and peppering the Sports’ goal, but Bruce Henson was there to stop everything.

Larson put the game away in the 61st minute by taking a clever through ball from Tom Norris and then cheekily pushing the ball through Craig’s legs.  The Brewmasters, to their credit, continued to battle and were able to pull one goal back in the 82nd minute.  However, Ray Russell’s headball was all that Milwaukee could accomplish before the final whistle.