THE GRIDIRON 10-2014

 

By Dick Engelhardt 

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the KNIGHTS of JFK of Paterson last Friday and held it until late in the 3rd quarter before falling 34-7 at BAUERLE FIELD in Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action. Captains Dan Morganstein, Matt Phillips, Dillon Rinaldo and Deshawn Roberts went out for the coin toss and Fair Lawn received. The drive stalled but Anthony Messina recovered a fumbled punt at the JFK 17. Tyler Johnson ran for 4 yards and Roberts ran to the 8. Ryan Rue, who boomed punts, ran to the 5 for a 1st down and Tyler Johnson ran to the 1. QB Gal Harari sneaked for the TD behind center Matt Forte. With Damien Rongo holding, the sure footed Dan Kutuzov kicked the extra point for the lead. Late in the 3rd quarter the KNIGHTS tied the score. JFK scored 27 more points including a completely classless TD on a pass with 9 seconds on the clock instead of taking a knee. The JFK assistant coaches were calling down to coach Ron Jackson to stop throwing the ball and just run out the clock. Last year JFK coach Jackson also threw the ball late in the game with a big lead in a 43-21 victory.

On “D,” great plays were made by Alex D’Angelo, Jon Fochesato, Johnson, Mike Laboy,   Morganstein, Phillips, Mark Terwilleger and others. Frank Ortoll broke up a TD pass and Jake Schwartz recovered a fumble. The loss brings Fair Lawn’s 1951-56, 58, 88, 2003 and 2009-14  record against JFK and its predecessor, Paterson Central, to 8-7 (.53).

Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division went 1-3 (.250) against outside opposition. In addition to Fair Lawn’s loss, the winless FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High were shutout 39-0 by the COMETS of Hackensack and the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside were stung 7-0 by the HORNETS of Passaic Valley while the champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute beat the LANCERS of Lakeland 35-6. The BNC Liberty Division record against outside foes is 8-14 (.364) so far.

This Thursday at 7:00 our CUTTERS will travel to Wayne to take on the INDIANS of Wayne Valley in a “Consolation Game.” Our heroes are 8-6 (.571) in Consolation Game action since these games started in 1998. During 1967-80 the INDIANS went 9-5 (.643) over our CUTTERS in Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) action. They left the NNJIL for the Northern Hills Conference (NHC) Skyline Division in 1981 and Fair Lawn left the NNJIL to return to the Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) in 1984. Wayne Valley comes into the game 4-5 (.444) having been outscored 223-181 for an average 25-20 loss. Fair Lawn is 2-7 (.222) and has been outscored 282-118 for an average 31-13 loss. Our heroes will give it their all to close out their season with a win. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 20 – Wayne Valley 13. GO   CUTTERS GO!!!