Has an AFL game ever ended 97-88?
It has. 97-88 has been a AFL final 7 times in 16,622 games. The first was Essendon beat Fitzroy on August 5, 1922; the latest was Carlton beat Fremantle on May 24, 2008.
That makes 97-88 the 191st most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 98-88 has happened 5 times and 97-89 has happened 4 times. At one point the score disappeared for 38 years, between 1936 and 1974.