THE GRIDIRON 11-2014

 

By Dick Engelhardt 

The injury depleted Cutters of Fair Lawn High were shutout 38-0 by the INDIANS of Wayne Valley in a Consolation Game in Wayne last Thursday night. Captains Dan Morganstein, Matt Phillips and Dillon Rinaldo went out for the coin toss and Wayne Valley received. Fair Lawn was outgunned from the start as the INDIANS marched down the field to take a 7-0 lead. According to MaxPreps.com they have a roster of 88 compared to Fair Lawn’s 39. On the ensuing kickoff the ball appeared to be about to go out of bounds but an alert Wayne Valley player pounced on it just before it did and the INDIANS had the ball on the Fair Lawn 22. Lickety split, the INDIANS led 14-0. A fumble led to their next score and a 21-0 lead. It was 31-0 at the half including a field goal. In the 2nd half, the INDIANS scored only 7 more points.

Nice plays were made on defense by Dominick Barbarulo, Joe Compolo, Alex D’Angelo, Jon Fochesato, Mike Laboy, Anthony Messina, Morganstein, Frank Ortoll, Mark Terwilleger and others. Bradley Ramirez made a TD saving tackle; Gal Harari broke up a long pass, Tyler Johnson nearly intercepted a pass, Rinaldo sacked the QB and Phillips recovered a fumble to end Wayne Valley’s last drive. The highlight play of the night saw QB Harari pitch the ball to Johnson and Johnson roll to his right and fire a bomb to Damien Rongo who raced to the 5. Alas, the drive stalled without points. Rongo, a promising freshman, finished the game at QB.

The win brought the 1967-80 and 2014 Wayne Valley record against Fair Lawn to 10-5 (.667). When our CUTTERS began playing the INDIANS in the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) in ’67, they were the INDIANS of Wayne High. When the PATRIOTS of Wayne Hills came into being, Wayne High School became Wayne Valley.       

Fair Lawn’s Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division went 1-3 (.250) against outside opposition. The Division was proud as a peacock as its 5 time champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute shutout the MOUNTAINEERS of West Orange 40-0 in North Jersey, Section 1, Group V playoff action. They’ll face the SOARING EAGLES of Union City, who demolished the MAROONS of Ridgewood 54-13, Friday night. In Consolation Games, in addition to Fair Lawn’s loss, the winless FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High lost a heart breaker 8-7 to the KNIGHTS of Bergen Tech and the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside were beaten 33-16 by the JAGUARS of East Orange Campus. Last year I was privileged to announce the East Orange Campus at Ridgewood playoff game with my “spotter,” Shawn Kerestes. The BNC Liberty Division record against outside foes is 9-17 (.346) so far.

Our CUTTERS finished their 72nd football season 2-8 (.200). More about the season in later columns. Next week we’ll look at Thanksgiving Memories in Fair Lawn history. Until then, GO CUTTERS GO!!!