THE GRIDIRON 7-2012

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High came out firing against the now 3 time Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute last Friday night in Wayne. Captains George Alexandris, Kevin Osback, Franklyn Ramirez and Jeff Welsh won the toss and our heroes received. On the 1st play of the game QB Osback rambled for big yardage. He picked up two more first downs and had the BULLDOGS reeling but was knocked out of the game. Pete Danko took over at QB. Franklyn Ramirez bulled for a TD behind center Kris Burger and our heroes led 6-0. With Mike Nieman snapping and Danko holding, sure footed Ari Moslavi kicked the extra point and Fair Lawn fans were ecstatic over the 7-0 lead. In the second quarter the BULLDOGS scored and the 7-7 tie was taken into halftime. The vaunted BULLDOGS were in a real battle!

In the second half, Passaic Tech showed its depth and the BULLDOGS scored 25 unanswered points to take a 32-7 victory. Thomas Jefferson had not won an election since 1804 but he rambled for 2 TDs in this game! The BULLDOGS are the BNC Liberty Division 2012 champions at 3-0. Our Cutters played hard again only to lose a lead. George Alexandris intercepted a pass, Brendan Sibilio recovered a fumble and Nick Tsinkelis downed a punt at the 14. Thomas Koike broke up a pass and Alexandris made a dramatic TD saving tackle. Nice plays were also made by Dan Laboy, Jeff Welsh and Laine White. Dillon Rinaldo finished up at QB. The win brought the 2010-12 Passaic Tech record against Fair Lawn to 3-0 (1.000) The BULLDOGS had to come from behind all three times!

Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division went 1-1 (.500) against outside opposition. The GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside beat the INDIANS of Passaic 20-14 while the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High were edged 26-20 by the COMETS of Hackensack. The BNC Liberty Division is 5-11 (.313) against outsiders so far in 2012.

On Saturday at 2:30 at SASSO FIELD our CUTTERS play the MAROONS of Ridgewood for the 41st time and the 1st time since 1983. During 1944-83 the Annual Classic Thanksgiving game was a huge draw. In 1966 the MAROONS broke our CUTTERS’ 24 game non losing streak with a shocking 40-34 upset before 13,000 fans! Ridgewood took the 40 year rivalry 26-11-3 (703). Fair Lawn comes into the game 1-5 (.167) having been outscored 165-69 for an average 28-12 loss. Ridgewood comes into the game 3-2 (.600) having outscored the opposition 142-75 for an average 28-15 win. Just like in the old days, you can throw the record books out the window in this great rivalry. Throughout the Turkey Day series the big upsets were Ridgewood upsetting Fair Lawn. It’s time to return the favor! Beset by injuries, our heroes will give it their all and could pull off the upset of the year! From here it looks like Fair Lawn 14 – Ridgewood 13. GO GUTTERS GO!!!