THIS WEEK IN FLHS GRIDIRON HISTORY – 2013 Week 4

A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE

By Dick Engelhardt

Fair Lawn High School opened September 13th, 1943. This history covers the years ending in “3.”

1943 – Marty Fischbein’s brand new team began action with 3 JV games to get started. In the 1st ever varsity game the CUTTERS shutout the LAKERS (Now the HERD) of Mountain Lakes 13-0 I independent action. Mountain Lakes evened the record in 1944 with a 13-7 victory.

1953 – Frank Bennett’s Bergen-Passaic Interscholastic League (B-PIL) and co-State champion CUTTERS mauled the GOLDEN BEARS of Lyndhurst 25-6 in B-PIL action.  Fair Lawn took the fierce 1945 – 53 rivalry with Lyndhurst 5-4 (.556).

1963 – Ed Sheehy’s CUTTERS shutout the MIGHTY MITES of Bergenfield 12-0 in Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) action. The MIGHTY MITES became the BEARS in 1966.  Fair Lawn took the 1945-48 and 1962-2008 rivalry 35-16 (.686) and the 1994-2008 Turkey Day rivalry 11-4 (.733). The teams squared off 1945-48 in the B-PIL, 1962-83 in the NNJIL and 1984-2008 in the NBIL. State realignment has ended the 51 season rivalry, which remains the longest in either school’s history.  

1973 – Al Reinoso’s CUTTERS were beaten 21-15 by the INDIANS of Wayne Valley in NNJIL action. During 1967-80 the INDIANS went 9-5 (.643) over our CUTTERS. They left the NNJIL for the Northern Hills Conference (NHC) Skyline Division in 1981 and Fair Lawn left the NNJIL to return to the NBIL in 1984.

1983 – Pete Natale’s CUTTERS edged the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside 20-18 in NNJIL interdivisional action taking a 5-4 (.556) lead in the 1947-54 and 1983 rivalry. 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. Fair Lawn is 1-2 (.333) against the GHOSTS in Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division action in 2010-12 and our CUTTERS and the GHOSTS are knotted up at 6-6 (.500).  

1993 – Alberque’s CUTTERS were beaten by the INDIANS of Pascack Valley 17-6 in NBIL interdivisional action. Pascack Valley took the 1955-56, 1984-85 and 1988-2008 rivalry 14-10-1 (.583).

2003 – Alberque’s CUTTERS were beaten 35-14 by the NORSEMEN of Northern Valley, Demarest in NBIL action. Our CUTTERS took the 1956-58 and 1990- 2008 rivalry 13-9 (.591). The NORSEMEN went 2-0 in 2010 and 11 Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action and Fair Lawn leads the rivalry 13-11 (.552).