THE GRIDIRON 6 - 2009

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High were shutout 37-0 by the GREEN KNIGHTS of St. Joseph Regional in North Jersey Tri-County Conference (NJTCC) Division 3 action last week. Behind center Regis Larkin, guards Max Jacobs and Matt Paisley and tackles Adam Polisi and Steve Sherlock, running back Christian Samra raced for a first down on the opening play and the CUTTERS and their ardent fans thought they had something going. It was not to be, however. James Hegybeli, Kelvin Rosario and Samra made some nice runs but our CUTTERS were outsized and outmanned as the GREEN KNIGHTS led 16-0 at halftime and rolled to their shutout victory. Chris Soltys made booming punts and Davon Johnson and Bryan Turton made some nice kickoff returns. James Mallon and Kevin Guy sacked the QB and Johnson broke up a pass and teamed up with Turton on a TD saving tackle. Soltys intercepted a pass and Alex Alvarez, Kevin Benjamin, Alex Callons, Jacobs, Dave Pinuel, Polisi, Rosario, Tim Schrettner, Sherlock and Anthony Tozzi made big plays on “D.”

The GREEN KNIGHTS have outscored our CUTTERS in 1982 and 2009 by a combined 57-0. Fair Lawn’s last shutout loss was 35-0 against the PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills in 2007. Fair Lawn’s last shutout victory was 42-0 against the BEARS of Bergenfield on Thanksgiving Day in 2008. Our CUTTERS have shutout the opposition 82 times and have been shutout 81 times in their 67 season GRIDIRON history.

The game reminded me of the 1961 National Football League (NFL) championship game in which the Green Bay Packers shutout the New York Giants 37-0. That was before the Super Bowl and the Houston Oilers beat the San Diego Chargers 10-3 in the American Football League (AFL) championship game. In 1970 the AFL and NFL merged and, within the new NFL, the AFL teams formed the American Football Conference (AFC) and the NFL teams formed the National Football Conference (NFC). When a public school has to play one of the area parochial powerhouses, it might as well be playing those Green Bay Packers. Come to think of it, the Green and Gold clad GREEN KNIGHTS looked a lot like the Packers!

In the other NJTCC Division 3 game, the HIGHLANDERS of West Milford ambushed the HIGHWAYMEN of Teaneck 42-41. The PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills recovered from their 17-15 loss to St. Joseph the previous week and stung the BEES of Bayonne 56-0 in NJTCC crossover action. Fair Lawn’s NJTCC Division 3 is now 10-1 (.909) against outside teams on the year!

This Friday night at 7:00, our CUTTERS travel to Union City to play at the new combined Union City High School and Roosevelt Stadium in NJTCC crossover action. In 1925, the towns of Union Hill and West Hoboken merged into Union City. After all these years, the two high schools, Union Hill and Emerson, have now become one, and the HILLERS and BULLDOGS have become the SOARING EAGLES. Our CUTTERS are 4-1 (.800) and have outscored their opposition 101-79 for an average 20-16 victory. The SOARING EAGLES are 1-4 (.200) and have been outscored 134-81 for an average 27-16 loss. I checked out the spanking new high school and stadium last week and saw the MARAUDERS of St. Peter’s Prep shutout the SOARING EAGLES 50-0. The stadium announcer mentioned that they would welcome Fair Lawn High School to “The Nest” this week. With an all out effort, our CUTTERS figure to take this game and get back on the winning track. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 21 – Union City 6. GO CUTTERS GO!!!