THE GRIDIRON 10–2011

By Dick Engelhardt

The injury depleted CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High faced the equally depleted KNIGHTS of John F. Kennedy High School of Paterson last week in their final regular season and Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division game for 2011 at SASSO FIELD and were beaten 32-7. Captains Boris Lifshits, Kevin Osback and Steve Tatekawa went out for the coin toss and Kennedy won and deferred the choice to the second half. Our CUTTERS had trouble moving the ball despite some nice running by Corey Carlson, Osback and Tatekawa. Our heroes held Kennedy scoreless through the 1st quarter but the KNIGHTS pulled away and led 18-0 at the half, scoring their 3rd TD with 3 seconds on the clock! Our CUTTERS started the 2nd half with an onside kick alertly recovered by Brendan Sibilio. Carlson ran for a first down but again the drive stalled. With the KNIGHTS leading 32-0 and 42 seconds on the clock, QB Osback threw a picture 57 yard TD pass to Pete Danko. With Mike Nieman snapping and Danko holding, sure footed Aryeh Moslavi kicked the extra point and our “never-say-die” CUTTERS averted a shut out.

On “D,” George Alexandris made TD saving tackles, Carlson sacked the QB, Tatekawa broke up a potential TD pass and Osback teamed up with Kris Burger, John Pagios and LaineWhite on stops. Thomas Koike teamed up with Sibilio on a great stop. Burger led the charge on a great goal line stand at the 1.

It was “Senior Recognition Day” and I was privileged to announce senior cheerleaders Marina Fladung, Rachel Levy, Allison Pollack and Kristen Ralston and football players Kevin Benjamin, Andy Chorlian, Nick Hickey, Lifshits, Dan Prigge and Tatekawa and their escorts. My faithful “Spotter,” Kevin Pepitone, was delayed and Shawn Kerestes and Brendan Lo Dolce did a great job helping out. The award winning Fair Lawn High School Cutter Marching Band and Color Guard was in Old Bridge in competition taking 2nd place. Way to go! FLHS student Julie Roccanova did a fine job singing our National Anthem.

The rest of the BNC Liberty Division teams played outside the division. In yet another example of the disparity between public schools and parochial powerhouses, the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High were shellacked 56-8 by the IRONMEN of Don Bosco costing the FIGHTING MUSTANGS any chance at the playoffs. If that didn’t prove the point, the GREEN KNIGHTS of St. Joseph, the number 3 strongest area parochial power, beat the PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills, the premier public school program in the area, 34-10. It was St. Joes’ 3rd straight victory over Wayne Hills; the first broke Wayne Hills’ 55 game winning streak in 2009. The BNC went 2-2 (.500) against outside foes. While Clifton lost and Passaic was shut out 49-0 by Ridgewood, the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside buried the KNIGHTS of Bergen Tech 40-0 and the champion KNIGHTS of Passaic County Technical Institute edged the COMETS of Hackensack 27-20 in overtime. The BNC is 4-18 (.818) against outside opposition on the season!

This Friday night at 7:00 our CUTTERS travel to Bridgewater to take on the PANTHERS of Bridgewater-Raritan High School in a New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) “Consolation Game.” During 1998- 99, 2001-08 and 2010, our CUTTERS have gone 7-4 (.636) in Consolation Games. Fair Lawn comes into the game 1-7 (.125) having been outscored 304-60 for an average 38-8 loss. Bridgewater-Raritan comes into the game 1-8 (.111) having been outscored 273-126 for an average 30-14 loss. Our CUTTERS will be looking to send our seniors off with a victory and can be counted on to put forth an all out effort. I think they can do it. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 14 – Bridgewater-Raritan 7. GO CUTTERS GO!!!