THIS WEEK IN FLHS GRIDIRON HISTORY – Week 3

A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE

By Dick Engelhardt

Fair Lawn High School opened September 13th, 1943. This record covers years ending in 4.

1944 - Marty Fischbein’s CUTTERS beat the BEARS of Hawthorne 21-7. Independently in 1944 and in the Bergen-Passaic Interscholastic League (B-PIL) 1945-55, our CUTTERS went 9-3 (.750) over the BEARS. When Hawthorne, then the only Passaic County school in the league, left in ’56, the league was renamed the Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL).

1954 - Frank Bennett’s CUTTERS were beaten 39-13 by the Passaic Valley Conference (PVC) GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside. 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(.333) against the GHOSTS in Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division action in 2010-13 and Eastside leads the series 7-6 (.538).

1964 - Ed Sheehy’s CUTTERS mauled the BEARS of Bergenfield 34-6 in NNJIL action. 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.    

1974 - Al Reinoso’s CUTTERS tied the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High 8-8. During 1972-74 independently, 1975-81 in the NNJIL and 2010-14 in the Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division, Clifton has gone 11-3-1 (.786) over Fair Lawn, including a State playoff victory in 1979.

1984 - Pete Natale’s CUTTERS shutout the NORSEMEN of Northern Valley, Old Tappan 21-0 in NBIL Division 1 action. Our CUTTERS took the 1984–2008 NBIL rivalry against the GOLDEN KNIGHTS 15–10 (.600). 

1994 – Mike Alberque’s CUTTERS edged those GOLDEN KNIGHTS of NVOT 34-33 in NBIL Division 1 action.  

2004 - Greg Tanzer’s CUTTERS were beaten 38-3 by the NORSEMEN of Northern Valley, Demarest in NBIL Division 1 action. Our CUTTERS took the 1956-58 and 1990- 2008 NBIL 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).