THE GRIDIRON 11 - 2006

By Dick Engelhardt

The Crimson and Gray clad CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High picked up their first victory beating the Red and Grey clad WILDCATS of High Point 14-7 last week in State “Consolation Game” action. Fair Lawn is 6-2 (.750) in consolation games since they began in 1998. It was uncanny seeing the WILDCATS come out looking an awful lot like our CUTTERS. With QB Nick Graff throwing to Tommy Spear and Dan Mucha for yardage our heroes moved the ball. Mike Barchefski, Sergio LaPlaca, Lasha Malazonia, and Mina Youssef made big plays on “D” keeping the WILDCATS caged up. Ahmet Basci recovered a fumble and Kevin Ramishvilli sacked the QB. Mucha took a pass to the 22, Spear picked up yardage and Dom Rizzo bulled his way 4 yards for the TD. With Barchefski holding, Sam Sierra kicked the extra point and Fair Lawn led 7-0. Our CUTTERS pulled out all the stops including a fake punt but the WILDCATS scored and it was 7-7 at the half. Spear raced 62 yards for a TD. A penalty against High Point led to Fair Lawn going for 2 points but Graff’s pass to Spear was nullified by a penalty. No matter. Barchefski and Sierra teamed up for the kick and Fair Lawn led 14-7. Then our “never-say-die” CUTTERS held on. Barchefski and Ramishvilli teamed up to stop High Point on 4th down, Ramishvilli blocked a pass and Graff made a hellacious tackle on a punt return. Fair Lawn fans were delirious with joy as Graff took a knee to end the game. Our CUTTERS averted what could have been the 4th winless season in their 64 year GRIDIRON history. Frank Bennett’s 1960 CUTTERS, Rich Szura’s 1976 CUTTERS and Pete Natale’s 1982 CUTTERS were winless.

On Radio Talk shows in Sussex County it was said that Sussex County Interscholastic League (SCIL) teams had gotten the better of Bergen County teams in playoff and consolation games in recent years and High point would coast to victory over Fair Lawn. I guess our CUTTERS showed em! They made my 14-10 victory prediction look good. Fair Lawn’s Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) went 2-1 (.667) against other leagues in playoff games. In Group III action Wayne Hills beat fellow NBIL member Northern Valley/Old Tappan 37-7. In Group II action Mahwah beat Dumont 28-7 and Pascack Valley beat Kittatinny 13-6 while Ramsey lost 41-13 to Hopatcong. In consolation action the NBIL went 3-3 (.500) against other leagues. In addition to Fair Lawn’s victory, Northern Valley/Demarest shut out Wallkill Valley 24-0 and Ramapo beat Nutley 35-28 while Bergenfield was beaten 30-8 by Hackensack, Indian Hills was edged 34-31 by Newton and Northern Highlands lost 34-6 to River Dell. On the year so far the NBIL is 7-5 (.583) against other leagues.

Next week we’ll look at round 2 playoff action and ahead to Fair Lawn’s Thanksgiving Day game at Bergenfield. Until then, GO CUTTERS GO!!!