THE GRIDIRON 2 - 2009

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High edged the KNIGHTS of Paterson’s JFK High School 12-8 last week at SASSO FIELD in a North Jersey Tri-County Conference (NJTCC) crossover thriller. It was great to be back as the “Voice of the CUTTERS” and to see my “spotter,” Kevin Pepitone again! Captains Travis Kubasta and Christian Samra went out for the coin toss. Kennedy won but deferred to the 2nd half and Fair Lawn received. Samra, Egor Buharin and James Hegybeli picked up yardage and Kubasta swept left for a big gain. Buharin ran 8 yards for a TD and our CUTTERS led 6-0. The KNIGHTS came back to lead 8-6 at the half.

In the 2nd half Fair Lawn moved the ball again and Hegybeli’s 6 yard TD run put our CUTTERS ahead 12-8. Then it was “hang on for dear life” time! Kennedy moved to inside the Fair Lawn 3 yard line in the closing moments. On 4th down Kevin Guy stuffed the Kennedy runner at the 2 and our heroes took over. With seconds left Kubasta took a knee and the Fair Lawn fans roared. And cheering them on were the wonderful FLHS cheerleaders led by their coach, Lauren Gimon. They did a mighty fine job on a dreary day! Fair Lawn leads the 1951-56, 1988, 2003 and 2009 series with the KNIGHTS of JFK and their predecessor COLTS of Paterson Central 7-3 (.700).

On “D” our CUTTERS were heroic. James Mallon made a TD saving tackle, Buharin, Kubasta, Regis Larkin, Samra, Tim Schrettner and Eric Simeonoglu made big plays and Kevin Guy, Mallon and Kelvin Rosario teamed up to nail the punter for a big loss and give Fair Lawn great field position. Anthoni Tossi’s fumble recovery late in the game was a key play as were great pass breakups by Brendan Walis and Rosario. The “D” bent some but it didn’t break!

Fair Lawn’s NJTCC Division 3 did itself proud against outside competition, going 3-1 (.750). In addition to Fair Lawn’s victory, the PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills mauled the KNIGHTS of West Essex 42-7 and the GREEN KNIGHTS of St. Joseph downed the SPARTANS of DePaul 34-21. However, the HIGHLANDERS of West Milford were stung 26-0 by the HORNETS of Passaic Valley. The HIGHWAYMEN of Teaneck drew a bye.

This Thursday night at 7:00 our CUTTERS travel to Teaneck to take on the HIGHWAYMEN for the 30th time. During 1954-58 independently and 1959-82 in the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL), our CUTTERS went 17-11-1 (.607) over the HIGHWAYMEN. This game is the start of Fair Lawn’s NJTCC Division C title quest. The HIGHWAYMEN figure to be strong in their opener but our CUTTERS, with a win under their belt, will be looking to keep that going. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 28 – Teaneck 17. GO CUTTERS GO!!!