THE GRIDIRON 8-2014

 

By Dick Engelhardt 

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High traveled to New Canaan Connecticut last week and fell 37-6 to the STORM of St. Luke’s High School. The STORM had a star running back that simply could not be stopped. Our “never-say-die” CUTTERS fought valiantly and with the score 20-0, Deshawn Roberts electrified the crowd running the second half kickoff back 90 yards for a TD! Fair Lawn’s record against parochial schools 1943-present is 3-14-2 (.176). Marty Fischbein’s CUTTERS beat the TERRIERS of Holy Trinity of Westfield on that first Thanksgiving Day in ’43 and again during the regular season in ’44. His ’43 CUTTERS tied Good Council of Newark. Frank Bennett’s 1955 Bergen-Passaic Interscholastic League (B-PIL) champion CUTTERS beat the GRAY BEES of St. Benedicts of Newark and his CUTTERS tied them in ‘57. GRAY BEES player Al Reinoso became the 5th coach at Fair Lawn 1972-74.

 

Fair Lawn managed to schedule this out of state game instead of playing the PALADINS of Paramus Catholic, who walloped the HONEY BADGERS of Eastern Christian Academy of Elkton, Maryland 63-28. By scheduling these parochial behemoths against public schools, the league puts the public school between the proverbial “rock and a hard place.” Playing these essentially college program teams puts your players at great risk of injury and is hopeless. But if the parochial school agrees to play somebody else, the public school has to seek another game. With the schedules already set it’s almost impossible to find a local game. Last year Fair Lawn had no game that week. On October 11th, neighboring Paramus traveled to Hamden, Connecticut to play Hamden Hall Country Day. It would have been great to see a renewal of the 1962-83 and 2010-11 Fair Lawn – Paramus rivalry! The SPARTANS lead it 14-10 (.583).      

Fair Lawn’s game was the only Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division game against outside opposition. The loss brings the BNC record against outside foes to 4-10 (.286) so far. In Division action, the defending champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute mauled the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High 55-6. The victory clinched the Division championship for the 5th straight year for the BULLDOGS, who have won it every season since the league was organized in 2010. The GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside, who play the KNIGHTS of JFK on Thanksgiving Day, had their Bye.

This Saturday at 1:00 our CUTTERS are home at SASSO FIELD at 1:00 against the winless INDIANS of Passaic. Pete Natale’s CUTTERS beat the INDIANS 27-18 in 1st round playoff action at GIANTS STADIUM in 1980 and lost a 1985 playoff game 36-26 at Passaic’s BOVERINI STADIUM. Stan Myles’ CUTTERS edged the INDIANS 39-38 in the 1st “Home” playoff game ever played at SASSO FIELD in 2009. That game replaced the 1980 game against Passaic as the most thrilling in FLHS history. The other 2 “Home” Fair Lawn playoff games were those at GIANTS STADIUM in 1980. The 2-2 record in 2010-13 BNC Liberty Division action has our CUTTERS leading the rivalry with Passaic 4-3 (.571).  

Passaic comes into the game 0-7 having been outscored 299-51 for an average 43-5 loss. Fair Lawn is 1-6 (.143) and has been outscored 241-72 for an average 34-10 loss. With an all out effort, our heroes can win this one. Lets all be at SASSO FIELD to welcome them home. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 21–Passaic 6 CO CUTTERS GO!!!