THE GRIDIRON 11–2011

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High and their hearty fans traveled 45 miles to Bridgewater in Somerset County to face the PANTHERS of Bridgewater-Raritan High School last Friday night in Consolation Game action and lost a 41-12 game that was a thriller into the 3rd quarter. Captains Boris Lifshits, John Pagios and Steve Tatekawa won the coin toss and George Alexandris electrified the crowd running the kickoff to the PANTHERS 23. Alas, the play was nullified by a penalty. Bridgewater-Raritan scored near the end of the 1st quarter and led 7-0. Late in the 2nd quarter, Alexandris intercepted a pass and raced to the 7. Tatekawa ran to the 5 and QB Kevin Osback threw a beautiful fade TD pass to Alexandris. With Fair Lawn trailing 7-6 the PANTHERS scored on a long pass as time ran out and led 14-6 at the half.

The PANTHERS scored again to lead 21-6. Our “never-say-die” CUTTERS mounted a drive featuring Osback bulling his way for 9 yards and passing to Alexandris for a 1st down at the 40. Osback ran for more yardage and passed to Alexandris for a 1st down at the 5. Pagios bulled to the 1 and Osback scored behind center Kris Burger and guards Kevin Benjamin and Jeff Welsh to make it 21-12. Then the Bridgewater-Raritan depth showed as the PANTHERS pulled away. Fair Lawn fans, seeing the approximately 80 player strong PANTHERS, wondered how they could have come into the game 1-8 (.111). The announcer and “spotter” told me that the PANTHERS felt they should have won at least 4 of their games which were heart breaking losses. The school has over 3,200 students and plays in the tough Skyland 39 Conference!

On “D,” nice plays were made by Pete Danko, who made TD saving tackles, Benjamin, Nick Hickey, Thomas Koike, Lifshits, Pagios, Brendan Sibilio, Tatekawa and others. Osback was a warrior all over the field! Fair Lawn is 7-5 (.583) in Consolation games 1998-99, 2001-08 and 2010-11.

The game was played at John Barsilone Memorial Field which is named after the World War II hero from Raritan who won the Medal of Honor, Navy Cross and Purple Heart and was killed in action at Iwo Jima. He and 2 other Marines became the basis of the TV series “The Pacific.”

The award winning Fair Lawn High School Marching Band and Color Guard was in Annapolis, MD in national competition. They took 5th Place in the Nation and the Percussion Unit repeated as National Champions! Fair Lawn’s version of Football’s Fabulous Females, the FLHS Cheerleaders, coached by JV Coach Nicole Mattina looked mighty good! Their fine coach, Lauren Gimon, was in a wedding.

Fair Lawn’s Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division champion KNIGHTS of Passaic County Technical Institute, were the only team in the league to make the playoffs. They lost a heart breaker 20-14 in overtime to the BRUINS of North Bergen in North Jersey, Section 1, Group IV action. In playoff action of special interest to Fair Lawn fans, the FALCONS of Saddle Brook beat THE HERD of Mountain Lakes 30-7 in Group I. Fair Lawn broke off from Saddle River Township in 1924 and the remaining part of the Township changed its name to Saddle Brook in 1955. Fair Lawn’s 1st varsity game in 1943 was a 13-0 victory over Mountain Lakes! Every one in Fair Lawn is rooting for star Saddle Brook player Tyler Vitiello to recover from his neck injury!

In Consolation games the BNC Liberty Division went 2-3 (.400) against outside foes. The FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High beat the RAMS of Randolph 27-7 and the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside buried the HAWKS of J.P. Stephens of Edison 27-0. However, in addition to Fair Lawn’s loss, the INDIANS of Passaic were beaten 46-6 by the WARRIORS of Watchung Regional of Warren and the KNIGHTS of Paterson Kennedy were beaten 28-12 by the EAGLES of Edison. The 2-4 (.333) BNC Liberty Division record on the weekend had Fair Lawn’s league closing out the season with a dismal 6-22 (.214) record against outside foes!

In the coming weeks we’ll reminisce about Fair Lawn Thanksgiving games, look at playoff action of interest to Fair Lawn fans, and close out THE GRIDIRON for the season. Until then, GO CUTTERS GO!!!