THE GRIDIRON 6 - 2007

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High edged the GREEN RAIDERS of Ramapo 19-18 in a thriller last week in Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) Division 1 action. On the first play from scrimmage they showed they meant business as QB Travis Kubasta threw a pass to Nick Graff for a 29 yard gain to the 49. Mike Barchefski smashed trough defenders to the 1 and then scored to put Fair Lawn up 6-0. Joe Visaggio and Graff picked up yardage on the ground and then Kubasta uncorked a beautiful 40 yard TD strike to Melkis Rosario and our CUTTERS led 12-0. It was 12-7 at the half.

A field goal cut the lead to 12-10. Visaggio ran the kick off to the 35. Kubasta passed to Graff for a first down and Visaggio raced to the 1. Barchefski scored again behind blocking by center, Brian Walis. With Visaggio holding, Chris Soltys kicked the extra point to put our CUTTERS up 19-10. The GREEN RAIDERS scored and went for a 2 point conversion and suddenly it was 19-18. Visaggio scampered for a first down that would ice the game but then the GREEN RAIDERS caused a fumble. Fair Lawn fans hearts were in their throats as the GREEN RAIDERS drove to the Fair Lawn 17 yard line. Having already kicked a 37 yarder, Ramapo lined up with 1:11 on the clock to kick the winning field goal. Kevin Ramishvilli blocked it and Fair Lawn fans, coaches and players screamed with joy. How sweet it was to see QB Travis Kubasta take a knee to end the game!

The “D” helped get the victory too. Ahmet Basci and Soltys recovered fumbles and Yuval Bussi, Graff, Lasha Malanozia and Ramishvilli made big stops. James Mallon made a hellacious hit before having to leave the game with a leg injury. The GREEN RAIDERS lead the series 16-11 (.593) but our CUTTERS broke their 11 season losing streak in the 1956-58 and 1984 – present rivalry. Their last victory had been in 1995 when Chris Simms was the Ramapo freshman QB.

In other NBIL Division 1 action the PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills stretched their winning streak to 33 games beating the GOLDEN KNIGHTS of Northern Valley/Old Tappan 24-7. In Division 2 the INDIANS of Pascack Valley beat the BEARS of Bergenfield 21-14. Fair Lawn’s NBIL Division 1 went 0-2 against Division 2 as the HIGHLANDERS of Northern Highlands were shut out 31-0 by the RAMS of Ramsey and the NORSEMEN of Northern Valley/Demarest were beaten 31-13 by the THUNDERBIRDS of Mahwah. The NBIL Division 2 leads the ’07 series 7-4 (.636).

This week our CUTTERS have their Bye. Next week we’ll look at the season so far and at Fair Lawn’s October 20th game at Northern Highlands. Until then GO CUTTERS GO!!!