THE GRIDIRON 7 - 2007

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High used their bye last week to get ready to go back on THE GRIDIRON this Saturday. They and their fans are still giddy over Kevin Ramishvilli’s block of what would have been the winning field goal for the GREEN RAIDERS of Ramapo preserving the thrilling 19-18 Fair Lawn win the previous week. What a warrior he is!

All 5 Northern Bergen Interscholastic League games last week were interdivisional affairs. Fair Lawn’s NBIL Division 1 went 3-2 (.600) against Division 2. The GOLDEN KNIGHTS of Northern Valley/Old Tappan edged the BRAVES of Indian Hills 16-14, the PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills shut out the INDIANS of Pascack Valley 27-0, and Ramapo beat the RAMS of Ramsey 16-6 while the HIGHLANDERS of Northern Highlands were beaten 42-6 by the THUNDERBIRDS of Mahwah and the NORSEMEN of Northern Valley/Demarest were beaten 30-25 by the BEARS of Bergenfield. The NBIL Division 2 leads the ’07 series 9-7 (.563).

Looking at the season so far our CUTTERS have been in every game. They’ve scored at least 2 TDs in every game and 3 in 2 of them. The Northern Valley/Demarest game went down to the wire with a heart breaking 14-13 opening night loss. Trailing only 10-7 in the Mahwah game, our heroes were on the verge of taking the lead before the T-BIRDS went on to win 31-15. A very strong Northern Valley/Old Tappan team prevailed 35-19 and, after a struggle, the BRAVES of Indian Hills won 33-13. Both teams came into the Ramapo game winless. Our CUTTERS won the 19-18 thriller beating the GREEN RAIDERS for the first time since 1995 when Ramapo QB Chris Simms was a freshman.

This Saturday at 2:00 our CUTTERS travel to Allendale to take on the HIGHLANDERS of Northern Highlands. Last week Coach Stan Myles was at the Northern Highlands at Mahwah game scouting the HIGHLANDERS. Northern Highlands only got its TD against Mahwah subs with 10 seconds on the clock and the HIGHLANDERS were thoroughly out classed. By comparison, our CUTTERS gave the T-BIRDS a battle royal. Northern Highlands leads the 1986-93 and 1998 – present rivalry with Fair Lawn 9-8 (.529). Fair Lawn comes into the game 1-4 (.200) having been outscored 131-79 for an average loss of 26-16. Northern Highlands is 0-5 and has been outscored 179-26 for an average loss of 36-5. Add to this the fact that St. Joseph transfer Kevin Carlson is now eligible to play and brings great speed to Fair Lawn’s offense, and you have the possibility of a breakout game for our CUTTERS. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 28 – Northern Highlands 6. GO CUTTERS GO!!!