THE GRIDIRON 5-2012

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High beat the INDIANS of Passaic 14-7 in the 7th annual FLHS Athletic Hall of Fame Game last Saturday in Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action. Captains George Alexandris, Kevin Osback, Franklyn Ramirez and Jeff Welsh won the coin toss and Fair Lawn received the kickoff. The drive stalled but later Pete Danko intercepted a pass and raced to the Passaic 30. Osback rambled to the 1 behind Center Kris Burger, right guard Brendan Sibilio and right tackle Mike Nieman. He then plunged for the TD behind Burger’s block. With Nieman snapping and Danko holding, Ari Moslavi kicked the extra point and our heroes led 7-0. Thomas Koike intercepted a pass and then caught a pass from Osback for a 1st down. Ramirez’ TD run and Moslavi’s kick put Fair Lawn ahead 14-0. Koike made a huge stop on 4th down with 25 seconds on the clock and Fair Lawn took the lead into halftime.

A long bomb from Osback to Alexandris that electrified the crowd was just out of reach as the Passaic crowd held its breath! After the INDIANS scored, Fair Lawn hung on to win a thriller. Nick Tsinkelis recovered a fumble and Alexandris intercepted a pass in the end zone. Osback broke up a pass and Fair Lawn took over with 1:26 on the clock and 3 kneel downs ended the game. Throughout the game heroic plays were made on “D.” Tsinkelis sacked the QB and teamed up with Matt Ferry on a big stop and Jake Gurrieri made a big play. Our CUTTERS have played well in all their games and could easily be 3-1 (.750). The win brought the Fair Lawn record against Passaic to 4-2 (.667) and made their fans ecstatic.

Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division went 2-2 (.500) against outside opposition. In addition to Fair Lawn’s victory, the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside edged the COMETS of Hackensack 7-6. The FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High were beaten 28-20 by the KNIGHTS of JFK of Paterson. The BNC Liberty Division two time defending champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute faced the number 2 ranked in New Jersey and number 9 ranked in the country Crusaders of Bergen Catholic and were trounced 62-20. The BNC Liberty Division is 4-8 (.333) against outsiders so far in 2012.

On Friday night at 7:00 our CUTTERS have to travel to Ramsey to take on the number 3 ranked in New Jersey and number 21 ranked in the country (As of this writing) IRONMEN of Don Bosco Prep. In 1976 in independent action and 1982 and 83 in the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) the IRONMEN went 3-0 over our CUTTERS. The unfair advantage the parochial schools had was the main reason Fair Lawn and Bergenfield left the NNJIL in 1984 and returned to the Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL), which Fair Lawn had left in 1959 and Bergenfield in 1949. It is a travesty for any public high school to be forced to play any of these parochial behemoths who operate college like programs. I’m not going to predict a score. I’m proud of our Cutters and I know they’ll give it their all. Let’s all be there to support them! GO GUTTERS GO!!!