THE GRIDIRON 5-2015

 

By Dick Engelhardt 

Last Friday evening the CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High ran into a buzz saw in the BRAVES of Indian Hills in Big North Conference (BNC) crossover action. The BRAVES went on the warpath right away and led 14-0 at the end of the 1^st quarter. Then QB Dominick Barbarulo threw a 35 yard TD pass to Bradley Ramirez. Ramirez’s 2 point conversion run had the score 14-8 and Fair Lawn fans feeling hopeful. The BRAVES rolled right down the trail though and led 42-8 at the half. They would finish off the action with 7 more points in the second half. Fair Lawn leads the 1984-97, 2000-08 and 2014-15 series 13-12 (.520).

Make no mistake about it, to paraphrase an old saying, “These BRAVES are not your grandfather’s BRAVES!” With the open enrollment policy in the Ramapo-Indian Hills district for Franklin Lakes, Oakland and Wyckoff, Indian Hills has become the bigger school. The Braves are now in Group IV while, sister school Ramapo Regional, which opened first in 1956, is now a Group III school. The Braves are highly regarded and on the top 20 public school teams list. 

Fair Lawn’s BNC Liberty Division went 2-2 (.500) in crossover action. In addition to Fair Lawn’s loss, the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside were beaten 48-7 by the MAROONS of Ridgewood while the defending champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute beat the KNIGHTS of JFK of Paterson 29-8 and the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High beat the TIGERS of Memorial of West New York (a team our CUTTERS mauled in scrimmage action) 40-7. The BNC Liberty Division is 5-3 (.625) against outside opposition so far.

This Saturday at 2:30 our CUTTERS have their home opener At SASSO FIELD against those GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside. During 1947-54 and 1983 Fair Lawn went 5-4 (.556) over Eastside. This was sweetened by the fact that, until FLHS opened in 1943, most Fair Lawn students attended Eastside. A few students from the Columbia Heights section went to Hawthorne and the Radburn section students went to Ridgewood. Fair Lawn is 1-4 (.200) against the GHOSTS in BNC Liberty Division action in 2010-14 and Eastside leads the series 8-6 (.571). The GHOSTS are 1-2-1 (.333)   and have been outscored 125-56 for an average 31-14 loss. Fair Lawn is 1-3 (.250) and has been outscored 124-67 for an average 31-17 loss. Our heroes will face another team with a much larger roster but I know they will go all out. From here it looks like Fair Lawn 17 – Eastside 14. GO CUTTERS GO!!!