THE GRIDIRON 4 - 2006

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High lost a heart breaking thriller 21-14 to the RAMS of Ramsey last Friday in a Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) interdivisional game. Kevin Ramishvilli recovered a fumble and QB Mike Barschefski uncorked a pass to Tommy Spear who raced 67 yards for a TD. With Barchefski holding, Sam Sierra kicked the point after and our CUTTERS led 7-0. After Ramsey tied the score at 7, our heroes hung on. Yuval Bussi, Nick Graff and Dom Rizzo were making great hits and Matthew Brunetti got off some booming punts. Rizzo and Randy Tomlin stopped the Rams on 4th down deep in Fair Lawn territory and Joey Visaggio’s interception ended the half. In the 2nd half Andrew Jaquez, Dan Mucha, Barschefski, Rizzo and Spear made big plays but after an interception, Ramsey went ahead 14-7. Our “never-say-die” CUTTERS roared back! Barschefski passed to Graff who made a circus catch for a 34 yard gain. When Ramsey got the ball back, Ramishvilli blocked a punt and Barschefski fell on the ball in the end zone. With Barschefski holding, Sierra’s kick tied the game at 14. The RAMS went ahead 21-14. With time running out Barschefski threw passes to Spear and Mucha for first downs. The RAMS batted down a 4th down pass intended for Spear and held on for the heart stopping victory. Fair Lawn still leads the 1945-58, 1984-99 and 2002-present rivalry by an astonishing 28 games to 7 (.800)!

Fair Lawn’s NBIL Division 1 went 0-2 against Division 2 as, in addition to Fair Lawn’s loss, the NORSEMEN of Northern Valley/Demarest were beaten 13-6 by the BEARS of Bergenfield. Division 2 leads the 2006 race 4-1 (.800)! In Division 1 the undefeated PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills demolished the HIGHLANDERS of Northern Highlands 49-0 and the GOLDEN KNIGHTS of Northern Valley/Old Tappan beat the GREEN RAIDERS of Ramapo 13-7. In Division 2 the THUNDERBIRDS of Mahwah scalped the BRAVES of Indian Hills 34-6. The INDIANS of Pascack Valley had their bye.

This week our CUTTERS play host to NV/Demarest in a 1:30 game at SASSO FIELD in NBIL Division 1 action. Fair Lawn leads the 1956-58 and 1990- present rivalry 12-7 (.632). Both teams come into the game 0-3. Fair Lawn has been outscored 97-28 for an average 32-9 loss while NV has been outscored 54-29 for an average loss of 18-9. Our CUTTERS played tough against Ramsey and they figure to take their disappointment at the loss out on the NORSEMEN. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 14 – NV/Demarest 10. GO CUTTERS GO!!!