THE GRIDIRON 4-2014

 

By Dick Engelhardt 

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High came out firing last week and, after trailing 7-0, took an 8-7 lead over the BRAVES of Indian Hills before falling 45-8 in Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action last week at SASSO FIELD. Captains Dan Morganstein, Dillon Rinaldo and Deshawn Roberts went out for the coin toss and Indian Hills received. Frank Ortoll recovered a fumble on the 1st play but our heroes couldn’t capitalize. The BRAVES went ahead 7-6. Tyler Johnson’s 13 yard TD run tied it and QB Gal Harari threw a strike to Tight End Dillon Rinaldo for the 2 point conversion to give Fair Lawn the lead. Alas, the bigger BRAVES took control and led 25-8 at the half. They added 20 more points in the 2nd half for the win. A long Johnson run was nullified by a penalty and Morganstein, Roberts and Nick Schepps made nice runs. Ortoll broke up a pass and nice defensive plays were made by Mike Laboy, Anthony Messina, Matt Phillips, Bradley Ramirez and others. Jon Fochesato and Johnson intercepted passes.

The win brings Fair Lawn’s 1984-97 and 2000-2008 and 2014 record against Indian Hills to 13-11 (.542). This was the Hall of Fame Game and at halftime I was privileged to introduce the 2014 inductees to the Fair Lawn High School Athletic Hall of Fame, including the 1965 Football Team which, with a record of 8-0-1 (1.000) remains the only undefeated football team in FLHS history!  And it was nice to see former Fair Lawn High School Band Director Gordon Fisher, now the Indian Hills Band Director, at the game! The award winning Fair Lawn High School Marching Band and Color Guard, under the direction of Jamie Szeinberg, put on its show, “Return of the King,” and headed to Piscataway for its first competition of the season. The Band will host the Marching Band Show and Competition at SASSO FIELD Sunday, October 19th at 1:00.   

Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division played all crossover games and went 1-3 (.250). In addition to Fair Lawn’s loss, The GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside were pummeled 39-0 by the MAROONS of Ridgewood and the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High were beaten 48-14 by the TIGERS of Memorial of West New York. The defending champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute smashed the KNIGHTS of Paterson’s JFK 34-0 for the only Division win. The Division is 2-4 (.333) against outside opposition so far this season. 

This Thursday at 7:00 our CUTTERS travel to Bauerle Field in Paterson to take on those GHOSTS of Eastside High 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. Fair Lawn is 1-3(.250) against the GHOSTS in BNC Liberty Division action 2010-13 and Eastside leads the series 7-6 (.538).

Eastside comes into the game 1-2 (.333) having been outscored 86-14 for an average 29-5 loss.  Fair Lawn is 1-2 (.333) and has been outscored 91-36 for an average 30-12 loss. Ridgewood beat Fair Lawn by 40 points and Eastside by 39. Our heroes can chalk up a Division win. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 20 –Eastside 13. GO CUTTERS GO!!!