THE GRIDIRON 6-2014

 

By Dick Engelhardt 

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High faced the premier team in the Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division last Friday and gave the BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute a battle for a while before being shutout 48-0. Captains Dan Morganstein, Dillon Rinaldo and Deshawn Roberts went out for the coin toss and the BULLDOGS won but deferred. Our CUTTERS received. Tylor Johnson electrified the crowd running the kickoff to the PCTI 45 but the play was nullified by a penalty. That drive stalled and with 7:48 left in the quarter, the BULLDOGS scored. Johnson stuffed the 2 point conversion try and the BULLDOGS led 6-0. The 1st quarter ended that way with Fair Lawn fans happy with our heroes’ effort! Alas, the BULLDOGS, with a roster of 99 compared to Fair Lawn’s 39 (according to MaxPreps.com), took over and led 27-0 at the half.

Johnson, Tyler Pollock, Bradley Ramirez, Roberts and Mark Terwilleger ran the ball. Fair Lawn came close to scoring when Johnson rambled to the 24 aided by a facemask penalty but the drive stalled. Ramirez made 2 TD saving tackles and nice defensive plays were made by Sefa Basci,  Dominick Barbarulo, Joe Compollo, Alex D’Angelo, Rob Figueroa, Gal Harari, Anthony Messina, Morganstein, Frank Ortoll, Pollack, Roberts, Terwilleger and others. Ryan Rue boomed beautiful punts all night.    

The Passaic Tech victory brings the BULLDOGS’ record against Fair Lawn to 5-0 (1.000). The BULLDOGS have won the league title every year since it was established in 2010. They have now clinched at least a tie and are virtually certain to win it outright this year when they play Clifton October 24th. The shutout was the 91st such loss in FLHS history. Our heroes have shutout the opposition 83 times.

 

Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division went 0-2 (.000) against outside foes. The FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High were beaten 47-12 by the MAROONS of Ridgewood and the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside were beaten 32-6 by the COMETS of Hackensack. Clifton dedicated its renovated Joe Grecco Field at Clifton School Stadium with its new field turf at the game. The Division is 3-6 (.333) against outside opposition on the season.

This Saturday at 1:00 our CUTTERS take on those COMETS of Hackensack at home at SASSO FIELD. During 1959-82 in the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) the COMETS went 16-7-1 (.696) over our CUTTERS. In 1959, Fair Lawn’s maiden season in the league, our CUTTERS won 27-6 and yet saw Hackensack take the title by half a game. Frank Bennett’s 1953 Bergen- Passaic Interscholastic League (B-PIL) champs shared the North Jersey, Section 1, Group III State title with the COMETS. Mike Alberque’s 2000 CUTTERS put up a whale of a battle before losing 14-6 to the nationally ranked COMETS in the States. The 4-0 Hackensack lead in BNC crossover action in 2010–13 has the Hackensack record against Fair Lawn 21-7-1 (.750).

Hackensack comes into the game 4-1 (.800) having outscored the opposition 130-56 for an average 26-11 win. Fair Lawn is 1-4 (.200) and has been outscored 183-59 for an average 37-12 loss. The COMETS were good last week but Eastside self destructed. Our CUTTERS will play tough and could even pull off an upset. Let’s all be at SASSO FIELD Saturday to welcome our heroes home! From here it looks like Fair Lawn 21 – Hackensack 19. GO CUTTERS GO!!!