Has an AFL game ever ended 97-53?
It has. 97-53 has been a AFL final 3 times in 16,622 games. The first was Carlton beat Richmond on June 9, 1917; the latest was Hawthorn beat Fitzroy on April 10, 1971.
That makes 97-53 the 1534th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 98-53 has happened 3 times and 97-54 has happened 5 times. At one point the score disappeared for 50 years, between 1921 and 1971.