THE GRIDIRON 6 - 2008

By Dick Engelhardt

On the 65th anniversary of the incident that led to the naming of “The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High” and with WGHT Radio (1500AM) covering the “Game of The Week,” Fair Lawn fell from the unbeaten ranks last Saturday losing 31-21 to the GREEN RAIDERS of Ramapo in Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) Division 1 action. On Monday, October 11, 1943 the brand new FLHS was about to play the 3rd of 3 JV games before going varsity and posting a remarkable 4-1-1 (.800) record. It all started September 13th, 1943 when FLHS opened without seniors, who stayed at Paterson Eastside, Hawthorne and Ridgewood to graduate in 1944. Some called the new team the COMETS because they scored quickly in their first game, a 7-6 loss to Lodi, and others called them the CLIPPERS. Then, before the Leonia game, team captain Jack Van Olden led Tony DiNegri, Art Jaeggi, Jack Knowles, Al Livingstone and Bill Perkins on a sneak trip to the Rivoli Theater in Paterson during school hours. The miscreants were caught and coach Marty Fischbein kept those “cutters” out of the game. With the LIONS up 12-0 he put our heroes in and Fair Lawn roared back to win 13-12. Livingstone, who passed away July 18th, took a pass from Van Olden and ran it 43 yards for a TD. In the 4th quarter, he ran 20 yards for a TD and plunged for the extra point winning the game. The student body, having chosen Crimson and Gray as the school colors, said “The CUTTERS won the game!” They insisted that the athletic teams be known as “The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High.” And so it is 65 years later to the day!

Our CUTTERS couldn’t get anything going and trailed 17-0 at the half. Christian Samra and Chris Soltys had made TD saving tackles and Matt Paisley had teamed up with James Mallon on a big stop. QB Travis Kubasta threw to Kevin Carlson for a big first down and then uncorked a picture pass to Soltys who took it 48 yards for a TD. With Joe Visaggio holding, Sacir Hot kicked the extra point to make it 17-7. The GREEN RAIDERS came right back to lead 24-7 and Kubasta passed to Visaggio who scampered 64 yards for a TD. Hot’s kick made it 24-14. When Ramapo went ahead 31-14, Visaggio electrified the crowd racing 97 yards with the kickoff for a TD. With Visaggio holding, Hot kicked his 3rd extra point of the day to close out the scoring. Ramapo leads the 1956-58 and 1984-present rivalry 17-11 (.607).

In the other NBIL Division 1 game, the PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills upped their winning streak to 45 blasting the GOLDEN KNIGHTS of Northern Valley/Old Tappan 48-7. In Division 2, the INDIANS of Pascack Valley shut out the BEARS of Bergenfield 35-0. Fair Lawn’s NBIL Division 1 went 1-1 (500) against Division 2 as the NORSEMEN of Northern Valley/Demarest beat the THUNDERBIRDS of Mahwah 41-20 while the HIGHLANDERS of Northern Highlands were shut out 20-0 by the RAMS of Ramsey. The BRAVES of Indian Hills had their BYE. Division 1 leads the 2008 race 7-5 (.583).

Our CUTTERS have their BYE this weekend. Next week we’ll look at the season so far and ahead to the October 25th game at SASSO FIELD against Northern Highlands. Until then, GO CUTTERS GO!!!