THE GRIDIRON 8 - 2009

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High demolished the RAMS of William L. Dickinson High of Jersey City 41-8 last Saturday in North Jersey Tri-County Conference (NJTCC) crossover action at SASSO FIELD. The outmanned and winless RAMS had only 17 players in uniform. Captains Travis Kubasta, Christian Samra and Chris Soltys won the coin toss and Fair Lawn received. Davon Johnson ran the kickoff to the 31 and, behind center Alex Callons, guards Max Jacobs and Matt Paisley and tackles Adam Polisi and Steve Sherlock, our heroes went right to work. Samra rambled for big yardage and Egor Buharin scampered 5 yards for a TD. With Callons snapping and Dan Prigge holding, Soltys kicked the extra point and Fair Lawn led 7-0 and never looked back! James Hegybeli’s 12 yard TD run and Soltys’ kick made it 14-0. Buharin intercepted a pass and electrified the crowd running it in for a TD but a penalty nullified it. No matter, Samra ran 18 yards for a TD and Soltys kicked the extra point for a 21-0 Fair Lawn lead at the end of the 1st quarter. Kubasta uncorked a picture 20 yard TD pass to James Mallon to give our Cutters a 27-0 lead. Then Samra bulled for a 1st down and Hegybeli raced 5 yards for a TD. Soltys kicked the PAT and Fair Lawn was up 34-0. Hegybeli’s 7 yard TD gallop and Soltys’ kick had our Cutters up 41-0 at the half! Great defensive plays had been made by Kevin Guy, Mallon, Polisi, Tim Schrettner, Sherlock, and Sam Vovsi and Soltys had intercepted a pass.

Coach Stan Myles let the JV see action through the 2nd half that went quickly as the clock ran continuously by rule because of the 35 plus point differential. QB Prigge handed off to Steve Tatekawa and Anthony Tozzi who rambled for big yardage. Brian Alvarez downed a punt at the 3. On “D,” George Bochelli, James Choe, Kyle Grecco, Nick Hickey, Dondre Roberts, Kevin Tan and Sertac Tarcan made big plays.

All 5 teams in Fair Lawn’s NJTCC Division 3 saw action against outsiders and went 3-2 (.600). In addition to Fair Lawn’s victory, the HIGHLANDERS of West Milford stung the BEES of Bayonne 44-0, and the PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills mauled the BRUINS of North Bergen 42-7. However, the GREEN KNIGHTS of St. Joseph were beaten 42-19 by the MARAUDERS of St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City and the HIGHWAYMEN of Teaneck were beaten 27-20 by the SOARING EAGLES of Union City. The NJTCC Division 3 record against outside teams is an astonishing 14-3 (.824)!

This Friday at 7:00, our CUTTERS travel to Wayne to take on the PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills in NJTCC Division 3 action. The PATRIOTS lead the 1984-2008 rivalry 19-5 (.792). The 1984-93 Thanksgiving rivalry wound up 5-5 (.500). Fair Lawn’s last victory was in 1989 when Mike Alberque’s Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) Division 1 champion and playoff bound Cutters thrashed Wayne Hills 35-8. Our heroes are 6-1 (.857) and have outscored the opposition 184-101 for an average 26-14 victory. Wayne Hills is also 6-1 and has outscored the opposition 247-45 for an average 35-6 victory. Fair Lawn is in a “David versus Goliath” battle and would love to play the part of David. Looking for a passel of power points in their Group IV playoff hunt and a possible home playoff game, our CUTTERS will go all out in this one. The guys in the white coats might come after me on this but I can see our “never-say-die” CUTTERS pulling off the upset of the decade. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 27 – Wayne Hills 24. GO CUTTERS GO!!!