THE GRIDIRON 9-2012

By Dick Engelhardt

I “voted” for “David” but, alas, “Goliath” won. The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High ran into the juggernaut that is the playoff bound LANCERS of Lakeland Regional High of Wanaque last week at SASSO FIELD and were shut out 43-0. Captains George Alexandris, Pete Danko, Kevin Osback, Franklyn Ramirez and Jeff Welsh went out for the coin toss. The LANCERS won it and scored on their first drive and never looked back. Our heroes kept it close for a while and Lakeland led only 14-0 at the half. The clock operator observed that Fair Lawn was making a game of it. In the second half the Lakeland depth showed and our injury depleted CUTTERS fell victim to an avalanche of 29 more points. QB Alexandris passed to John Pagios for a first down and made some nice runs. He intercepted a pass in the end zone! On a dramatic fake punt, Danko rambled for a first down at the 50. Ramirez picked up a neat first down off a block by Brian Centeno. Kris Burger alertly recovered a fumble! Brendan Sibilio blocked an extra point try and nice defensive plays were made by Thomas Koike, Dan Laboy, Eugene Mbau, Pagios, Nick Tsinkelis, and Justin Williams. This was the first game ever played between our Crimson and Gray clad CUTTERS and the Scarlet and Gray clad LANCERS. The shutout loss, the 3rd this season, was the 86th in FLHS history and our CUTTERS have shutout their foes 82 times.

Twenty senior players and their escorts were introduced since this was the last scheduled home game. We don’t know whether the “Consolation Game” will be home or away yet. “Football’s Fabulous Females,” the FLHS Cheerleaders, led by their Coach, Lauren Gimon, looked great performing adorned in pink for breast cancer awareness. Coach Nicole Mattina’s JV Cheerleaders performed well too and fans had a special treat as the Fair Lawn Football Association Cheerleaders took the field!

In Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division, the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside, who play on Thanksgiving, had a Bye. The Division went 0-3 against outside opposition. In addition to Fair Lawn’s loss, the Liberty Division champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute were beaten 34-7 by he PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills and the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High were beaten 35-6 by the MAROONS of Ridgewood. The BNC Liberty Division is 6-15 (.286) against outsiders so far in 2012.

On Friday night at 7:00 our CUTTERS travel to BAUERLE Field in Paterson to take on the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside in BNC Liberty Division action. During 1947-54 and 1983 Fair Lawn went 5-4 (.556) over the GHOSTS. This was sweetened by the fact that, until FLHS opened in 1943, most Fair Lawn students attended Eastside. A few students from the Columbia Heights section went to Hawthorne and the Radburn section students went to Ridgewood. The teams are 1-1 (.500) in BNC Liberty Division play 2010-11 and our CUTTERS lead the rivalry 6-5 (.545). Fair Lawn comes into the game at 1-7 (.125) having been outscored 246-69 for an average 31-9 loss. Eastside comes into the game at 2-5 (286) having been outscored 152-77 for an average 22-11 loss. Our “never-say-die” CUTTERS will make an all out effort with QB Kevin Osback expected back from injury. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 21 – Eastside 17. GO GUTTERS GO!!!