THE GRIDIRON 4-2015

 

By Dick Engelhardt 

Last Friday evening the CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High gave the MAROONS of Ridgewood a scare in Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action before falling 48-14. Don’t let that final score fool you. Our heroes gave it their all and had the MAROONS reeling. Captains Sefa Basci, Mark Coopershlyak and Robert Figueroa went out for the coin toss and Fair Lawn received. Behind center Aaron Gutierrez, guards Matt Forte and Mike Laboy and tackles Basci and Tarron Douglas, running backs Alex D’Angelo, Tyler Johnson, Bradley Ramirez and Ryan Rue picked up yardage. Ramirez’s 22 yard TD gallop put Fair Lawn up 6-0 and had Ridgewood fans murmuring! With Marc Terwilliger snapping and Dominick Barbarulo holding, the sure footed Rue kicked the extra point and Fair Lawn fans were ecstatic with the 7-0 lead! As the 2^nd quarter began the MAROONS tied it up. Our “never-say-die” CUTTERS came back with a beautiful 43 yard TD pass from QB Barbarulo to Ramirez. Rue’s kick had Fair Lawn up 14-7. Our CUTTERS led 14-13 at the half!

The 2^nd half saw our out gunned CUTTERS wear down as the lack of depth showed. The MAROONS had over 65 players and pulled away scoring on each of their 5 drives. Nice plays on “D” were made by Johnson, who intercepted a pass, Lucky Abernathy, Barbarulo, D’Angelo, Figueroa, Jonathan Fochesato, Forte, Gal Harari, Laboy, Michael Lantigua, Gabe Perez, Tyler Pollock, Ramirez, Damian Rongo, Rue, Terwilliger and others. The win brought Ridgewood’s 1944-83 and 2012-15 record against Fair Lawn to 30-11-3 (.732). The ’43-’83 games were Thanksgiving Day affairs.          

In Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division, the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High and the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside played through overtime to a 28-28 tie. The defending champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute demolished the INDIANS of Passaic 39-3 in crossover action.       

This Friday night at 6:00 Fair Lawn travels to Oakland to take on the BRAVES of Indian Hills for the 25^th time. Our CUTTERS took the 1984-97 and 2000-2008 Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) rivalry against the BRAVES 13-10 (.565). Indian Hills’ 45-8 win in BNC crossover action in 2014 closed Fair Lawn’s series lead to 13-11 (.542). The BRAVES are 2-0 (1.000) and have outscored their opposition 97-27 for an average 49-14 win. Fair Lawn is 1-2 (.333) and has been outscored 75-59 for an average 25-20 loss. The BRAVES are in The Record Top 20 Public School Teams listings and are highly regarded. Their roster size is a little smaller than Fair Lawn’s. Faced with a level playing field, our CUTTERS figure to go all out in this one. A win will have area fans and pundits take notice! From here it looks like Fair Lawn 21 – Indian Hills 20. GO CUTTERS GO!!!