THE GRIDIRON 13-2014

 

By Dick Engelhardt 

In State Playoff Semi-Final and Thanksgiving Day action, Fair Lawn fans had plenty of rooting interests. Let’s look at some of the games.

In North Jersey, Section 1, Group V, the BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute, 5 time champions of Fair Lawn’s Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division, beat the SOARING EAGLES of Union City 12-6. The BULLDOGS are 5-0 against Fair Lawn. In North Jersey Tri-County Conference (NJTCC) crossover action in 2009, our CUTTERS shot down the SOARING EAGLES 42-14. The COMETS of Hackensack were beaten 24-7 by the defending champion MOUNTIES of Montclair. Hackensack leads the 1959-82, 2000 and 2010-14 rivalry with our CUTTERS 28-7-1 (.800). 

In Group IV, the INDIANS of Pascack Valley blasted the GOLDEN KNIGHTS of Northern Valley/Old Tappan 37-14 and “the little engine that could,” SPARTANS of Paramus shocked the GAELS of Roxbury 21-0. Pascack Valley coach Craig Nielsen, a great guy, was an assistant under Pete Natale at Fair Lawn 1980-85. P V took the 1955-56, 1984-85 and 1988-2008 Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) rivalry with Fair Lawn 14-10-1 (.583). Paramus took the 1962-83 and 2010-11 rivalry with Fair Lawn 14-10. Our CUTTERS took the 1984–2008 NBIL rivalry against the GOLDEN KNIGHTS 15–10 (.600). Stan Myles’ CUTTERS were beaten 42-7 by Roxbury in the 2009 semi-finals after having edged the INDIANS of Passaic 39-38 in the 1st round.

In Group III, the GREEN RAIDERS of Ramapo were edged 10-7 by the GOLDEN HAWKS of River Dell. Ramapo coach Drew Gibbs is a class act. His son, Brian, now on his staff, was an assistant on Fair Lawn coach Amir Saadah’s staff last year. In Fair Lawn’s only game ever against River Dell, a 26-13 loss in 1958, a fellow named Bill Parcells ran wild for the GOLDEN HAWKS! Ramapo took the 1956-58 and 1984-2008 NBIL Division 1 rivalry with Fair Lawn 17-11 (.607). The THUNDERBIRDS of Mahwah were beaten 42-19 by the defending champion SPARTANS of Sparta. During 1999-2001 and 2007-2008 our CUTTERS went 4-1 (.800) over the THUNDERBIRDS in NBIL interdivisional action.

In Group II the CARDINALS of Westwood, coached by Fair Lawn’s own Vito Campanile, shellacked the PATRIOTS of Lenape Valley 48-6. During 1943-44 independently and 1984-85 in NBIL interdivisional action, our CUTTERS went 3-1 (.750) against the CARDINALS.

In Group I, the WILDCATS of Becton Regional were shutout 22-0 by the HILLBILLIES of Verona. In independent action 1950-53 the WILDCATS of then East Rutherford High, went 2-1-1 (.667) against Frank Bennett’s CUTTERS.   

On Turkey Day Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division saw its winless FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High beat the also winless Freedom Division INDIANS of Passaic 20-14. Our CUTTERS administered Clifton’s 1st loss 22-0 on opening day and kept Passaic winless 39-7 on November 1st. I saw the BNC Liberty Division GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside get shutout 26-0 by the Freedom Division KNIGHTS of JFK. Before Fair Lawn High opened in 1943, most Fair Lawn students attended Eastside with Radburn area students attending Ridgewood High and Lincoln Avenue area students attending Hawthorne High. I rooted for Eastside for that reason and as payback for JFK coach Ron Jackson passing for a TD with 9 seconds on the clock instead of taking a knee in the 34-7 Kennedy win over Fair Lawn this year! The BNC Liberty Division went 2-1 (.667) against outside opposition bringing its 2014 record to 11-18 (.379) with 1game to go.  Next week we’ll look at playoff finals action of interest to Fair Lawn fans. Until then, GO CUTTERS GO!!!