THIS WEEK IN FLHS GRIDIRON HISTORY – 2013 Week 6

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 CUTTERS played a scoreless tie against Good Council of Newark in the only game ever played between the schools.

  

1953 – Frank Bennett’s Bergen-Passaic Interscholastic League (B-PIL) and co-State champion CUTTERS shutout the Passaic Valley Conference (PVC) COLTS of Paterson Central (Now the KNIGHTS of JFK) 7-0. Central was the Turkey Day rival of the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside and most Fair Lawn students attended Eastside before FLHS opened in 1943. During 1951-56 and 58 Fair Lawn went 5-2 (.714) over Central. In 1988 the successor KNIGHTS of Paterson Kennedy beat our CUTTERS 20-6 in the States while, in the 2003 State “Consolation Game,” our CUTTERS prevailed 20-0. During 1951-56 independently, in the playoffs in 1988, in a Consolation game in 2003, in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference (NJTCC) in 2009 and in the Big North Conference (BNC)  Liberty Division 2010-12, Fair Lawn has gone to 8-5 (.615) over Central/Kennedy.

1963 – Ed Sheehy’s CUTTERS beat the RED RAIDERS of Cliffside Park 20-0 in Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) action. Our CUTTERS took the 1959-66 rivalry against the RED RAIDERS 6-2 (.750).

1973 – Al Reinoso’s CUTTERS edged the SPARTANS of Paramus 22-21 in NNJIL action.  During 1962-83 in NNJIL action, the SPARTANS went 12-10 (.545) over our CUTTERS. It was a great rivalry that ended when Fair Lawn returned to the Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) in 1984. It resumed in 2010-11 in Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action where the SPARTANS went 2-0 (1.000) and lead the series 14-10(.583). 

1983 – Pete Natale’s CUTTERS were shutout 6-0 by those SPARTANS of Paramus.

1993 – Alberque’s CUTTERS were shutout 26-0 by the RAMS of Ramsey in NBIL crossover action. - Fair Lawn took the 1945-58, 1984-99 and 2002-06 rivalry against the RAMS by an astounding 28 games to 7 (.800) in B-PIL and NBIL action!   

2003 – Greg Tanzer’s CUTTERS edged the HIGHLANDERS of Northern Highlands 22-20 in NBIL action. Fair Lawn took the 1986-93 and 1998–2008 NBIL rivalry against the HIGHLANDERS 10-9 (.526).