THE GRIDIRON 12 - 2015

 

By Dick Engelhardt

The CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High beat the MINUTEMEN of West Morris Mendham 20-13 last week in Consolation Game, now called Regional Crossover Game, action. Captains Dominick Barbarulo, Sefa Basci, Mike Laboy and Tyler Pollock went out for the coin toss and Fair Lawn received. Our heroes wasted no time as they drove down field behind center Robert Figueroa, guards Aaron Gutierrez and Laboy and tackles Tarron Douglas and Basci. Pollock’s 23 yard TD burst put Fair Lawn up 6-0. With Gal Harari snapping and Damien Rongo holding, the sure footed Ryan Rue licked the extra point for a 7-0 Fair Lawn lead. The MINUTEMEN came back making it 7-6 and Fair Lawn took that lead into halftime.

Tyler Johnson’s 3 yard TD run had our CUTTERS up 13-6 as the extra point was blocked. The MINUTEMEN tied it at 13 but our “never-say-die” CUTTERS fought back. Bradley Ramirez raced to the 15 and the drive was capped off by his 1 yard TD run and Rue’s extra point kick closed out the scoring with 3:58 on the clock. Our heroes stopped the MINUTEMEN with great plays by Laboy pressuring the QB, Jonathan Fochesato, Gutierrez, Barbarulo, Pollock and others. Fair Lawn coach Amir Sadaah showed good sportsmanship having Barbarulo take a knee three times rather than trying to score again deep in Mendham territory. The MINUTEMEN   responded by starting a fight! On “D” great plays were also made by Alex D’Angelo, Johnson, Jacob Polanco and others with Laboy and Rue recovering fumbles. The win brought Fair Lawn’s record in “Consolation” Games to 9-7 (.563).

The Fair Lawn High School Band and Color Guard were fantastic. They had taken 2^nd place in the USBands National Championships at MetLife Stadium, their highest achievement ever in Open Class. They received the Best Music Award, 2^nd place Color Guard, and the prestigious Cadet’s Award of Excellence in recognition of achievement in Creativity, Performance and Overall Effect! The FLHS Cheerleaders, coached by Melissa McInerney, and JV Cheerleaders, coached by Melissa Maneri and Kara Popadics, received much deserved applause.

In the other Regional Crossover Game involving Fair Lawn’s Big North Conference (BNC) Liberty Division, the GHOSTS of Paterson Eastside beat the BRUINS of North Bergen 33-9. Two BNC Liberty Division teams made the North Jersey, Section 1, Group V playoffs. The champion BULLDOGS of Passaic County Technical Institute shutout the KNIGHTS of Bergen Tech 49-0. The FIGHTING MUSTANGS of Clifton High were beaten 42-21 by the MAROONS of Ridgewood. The BNC Liberty Division went 3-1 (.750) against outside opposition bringing the Division’s record against outside opponents to 12-14 (.462) so far.

Fair Lawn finished the 3-7 (.300) season with a nice victory! More about the 2015 season in later columns. Next week we’ll look at Thanksgiving Memories in Fair Lawn High history. Until then, GO CUTTERS GO!!!