THE GRIDIRON 2-2014

 

By Dick Engelhardt 

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High shocked the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High 22-0 last week at SASSO FIELD in Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division action. Captains Dan Morganstein, Dillon Rinaldo and Deshawn Roberts won the coin toss and Fair Lawn received. On Clifton’s 1st possession, with great defensive plays by Jon Fochesato, Anthony Messina, Morganstein and Matt Phillips and Tyler Pollock, our heroes stopped the FIGHTING MUSTANGS on the 17. Later, Mark Terwilliger electrified the crowd returning a punt to the 4 but a penalty nullified the run. No matter, Jake Schwartz picked up a 1st down and Tyler Johnson raced to the 11. QB Gal Harari ran to the 1 and plunged for the TD. Schwartz’ 2 point conversion run had Fair Lawn up 8-0 with 19 seconds left in the half. Alex D’Angelo and Maxwell White had broken up passes and Morganstein intercepted a pass.

In the 2nd half Roberts rambled for big yardage and Johnson raced 43 yards for a TD. D’Angelo recovered a fumble and Schwartz’ fumble recovery led to a 40 yard TD gallop by Roberts that put Fair Lawn ahead 20-0. Roberts’ 2 point conversion run closed out the scoring. Dillon Rinaldo forced 2 fumbles! The shutout win was the 83rd in FLHS history versus 90 shutout losses. Fair Lawn last shutout Clifton 21-0 in 1979. Clifton leads the 1972-81 and 2010-14 series 11-4-1 (.733).    

Last week when I listed the years our CUTTERS made the playoffs, I left out ’87. That was the Bayonne game played in gale force winds and bitter cold at VETERANS MEMORIAL STADIUM. It was so cold they had to stop selling tickets because they could not handle money and the band couldn’t play the National Anthem because the instruments were frozen. BEES coach Don Ahern was thankful for the conditions and the 12-6 Bayonne win.  He admitted that, on a good day, Fair Lawn’s offense might have prevailed. The stadium is now named after the late Coach Ahern. 

In the other BNC Liberty Division game, the defending champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute shutout the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside 39-0. In an interesting non- league game, I saw the INDIANS of Pascack Valley manhandle the MOUNTIES of Montclair 29-14. Pascack Valley is mourning the passing of legendary coach Joe Talamo at age 87. He was a fixture at PV football games in his folding chair. Current PV Coach Craig Nielsen coached at Fair Lawn 1980–85 under Pete Natale. He was the architect of the vaunted Fair Lawn offense on the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) tri-championship team in 1980 and Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) Division 1 championship teams in 1984 and 85.

This Saturday at 1:00 our CUTTERS take on the MAROONS of Ridgewood at SASSO FIELD in the 43rd game played between the schools. On Thanksgiving Day 1944-83 Ridgewood went 26-11-3 (.703) against Fair Lawn with 13,000 fans at the 1966 game in which the MAROONS broke Fair Lawn’s 24 game non-losing streak winning 40-34. With the BNC cross over victories in 2012 and 2013, Ridgewood leads the rivalry 28-11-3 (.718). The MAROONS demolished the INDIANS of Passaic 53-6 last week giving Coach Chuck Johnson his 200th win!

Our heroes played their hearts out against Clifton and are vastly improved over last season. I smell an upset. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 24 – Ridgewood 21. GO CUTTERS GO!!!