THIS WEEK IN FLHS GRIDIRON HISTORY – Week 7

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 were beaten 14-7 by the OWLS of Park Ridge in independent action. Fair Lawn had shut the OWLS out 6-0 in 1943 and the ’43-’44 series wound up 1-1 (.500).

1954 - Coach Bennett’s Bergen-Passaic Interscholastic League (B-PIL) CUTTERS were beaten 33-6 by the GRAY BEES of St. Benedicts Prep of Newark in independent action. During 1954-57 the GRAY BEES went 2-1-1 (.667) over Bennett’s CUTTERS. Al Reinoso played for them and became the 5th coach in FLHS history 1972-74.

1964 - Ed Sheehy’s CUTTERS shutout the MAROON RAIDERS of Englewood 26-0 in Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) action. In independent action 1945-46, 1957-58 and 1986-89 and in the NNJIL 1959-71, our CUTTERS went 14-7 (.667) over the MAROON RAIDERS of Dwight Morrow High in Englewood.

1974 - Al Reinoso’s CUTTERS were beaten 28-19 by the SPARTANS of Paramus in NNJIL action. During 1962-83 in NNJIL, the SPARTANS went 12-10 (.545) over our CUTTERS. It was a great rivalry that ended when Fair Lawn returned to the Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) in 1984. It resumed in 2010-11 in Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action where the SPARTANS went 2-0 (1.000) and lead the series 14-10 (.583). 

1984 – On their way to an NBIL Division 1 title in their first season back in the league, Pete Natale’s CUTTERS beat the BRAVES of Indian Hills 47-12 in NBIL crossover action. Our CUTTERS took the 1984-97 and 2000-2008 NBIL rivalry against the BRAVES 13-10 (.565). Indian Hills’ 45-8 win in Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action in 2014 closed Fair Lawn’s series lead to 13-11 (.542). 

1994 – Mike Alberque’s CUTTERS beat the GREEN RAIDERS of Ramapo Regional High of Franklin Lakes 54-35. Ramapo took the 1956-58 and 1984-2008 NBIL Division 1 rivalry 17-11 (.607).

2004 - Greg Tanzer’s CUTTERS were 33-7 by the RAMS of Ramsey in NBIL crossover action. Fair Lawn took the 1945-58, 1984-99 and 2002-06 rivalry against the RAMS by an astounding 28 games to 7 (.800) in B-PIL and NBIL action!