THE GRIDIRON 5-2013

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High came out firing last Friday night against the INDIANS of Passaic at Boverini Stadium in Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action. Captains Thomas Koike, Richard Marchese, Mike Nieman and Nick Perez went out for the coin toss. Passaic received and Frank Ortoll made a hellacious hit on the kickoff returner. With great plays by Koike, Anthony Messina, Nieman, Zach Parisi, Matt Phillips, Justin Williams and others, our heroes held off the INDIANS and took over. Carlos Carlone, Parisi and Deshawn Roberts picked up yardage but the drive stalled and a field goal try failed. On their next play from scrimmage the INDIANS raced 80 yards for a TD to lead 6-0. Undaunted our “never-say-die” CUTTERS came back. Messina recovered a fumble and QB Dillon Rinaldo passed to David Rodriguez for a 1^st down. Roberts lugged the pigskin to the 14 and Rinaldo passed to Koike for the TD. With Nieman snapping and David Milnes (great grandson of the legendary “Pop” Milnes) holding, the sure footed Ari Moslavi kicked the point after and Fair Lawn led 7-6 at the half.

The INDIANS led 14-7 at the end of the 3^rd quarter but our CUTTERS came back to tie it as Gal Harari intercepted a pass and electrified the crowd running it in for a TD. Moslavi kicked the PAT. Passaic scored again and Nieman sacked the QB on the 2 point conversion try. With 1:37 on the clock the INDIANS went ahead 26-14. Our heroes pressed on but with 1:10 left, the INDIANS intercepted a pass and ran it in closing out the scoring at 34-14. The game was a lot closer than that score would indicate. Fair Lawn leads the rivalry with Passaic 4-3 (.571). 

Jim Livingstone, the nephew of one of the original 1943 “Cutters,” Al Livingstone, who passed away in 2008, was the crew chief and line judge at the game. He lives in Fair Lawn. It was nice to see former Fair Lawn player and Head Coach (2002-06) Greg Tanzer at the game

In Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division, the defending champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute drew a Bye. The Division went 1-2 (.333) against outside opposition. While Fair Lawn lost, the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High beat the KNIGHTS of JFK of Paterson 26-14 and the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside were beaten 47-8 by the COMETS of Hackensack. The Division is 4-8 (.333) against outside opposition. 

This week our CUTTERS draw a Bye. It was the week we would have played the IRONMEN of Don Bosco (No thanks!) who will instead travel to Washington, D.C. to play KNIGHTS of Friendship Collegiate Academy. Public schools should not be scheduled against these parochial behemoths and then, if the parochial school is able to find another foe, be faced with finding another game. Fair Lawn’s next game is Saturday, October 19^th at 1:00 at Sasso Field against Passaic Tech.

Next week we’ll take a detailed look at the origin of “The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High,” which happened 70 years ago! Until then, GO GUTTERS GO!!!