THE GRIDIRON 16 - 2015

 

By Dick Engelhardt

Fair Lawn graduate and star player, Amir Saadah, became the 11th Fair Lawn High School Football Coach in 2011. His fifth season, 2015, the 73rd in the history of Fair Lawn High, was a disappointing one but the lessons learned in sportsmanship, teamwork and overcoming adversity and the friendships formed will be with these CUTTERS as long as they live!

The season started out strong! The PALADINS of Paramus Catholic scheduled the ASCENDERS of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for October 24th instead of Fair Lawn and our CUTTERS were able to schedule the RAMS of Dickinson High of Jersey City but the game was at CAVEN POINT the Friday evening of Labor Day Weekend giving Fair Lawn only 3 scheduled “Home” games in ’15. In 2009 in North Jersey Tri-County Conference (NJTCC) crossover action our CUTTERS beat the RAMS 41-8 at SASSO FIELD. This year in, independent action, our CUTTERS thrashed the RAMS 38-6.
  

Alas, Fair Lawn suffered through 6 straight losses. That streak ended in dramatic style as our CUTTERS beat the INDIANS of Passaic 35-21 at BOVERINI STADIUM. The INDIANS use the “Single Wing” formation last run at Fair Lawn under legendary coach Frank Bennett 1945-60. Old time Fair Lawn fans saw a lot of nostalgia there. Bennett won Bergen-Passaic Interscholastic League (B-PIL) titles in 1945, 53 and 55 and shared the ’46 title with the BUCCANEERS of Bogota and the ’47 title with the GOLDEN BEARS of Lyndhurst. He posted a record of 71-55-6 (.564).

In the last regular season game, our CUTTERS took the KNIGHTS of JFK into overtime, which was played on Sunday because of the impending darkness at the end of regulation play Saturday. Both teams had possessions from the 25 yard line when the KNIGHTS won a 38-32 thriller. A tie would have been the 15th in FLHS history but the game had to be played out because the power points would affect every team Fair Lawn and Kennedy played.

The 3-7 (.300) season ended with a 20-13 win over the MINUTEMEN of West Morris Mendham in the Regional Crossover, formerly called Consolation, Game at SASSO FIELD. Fair Lawn is 9-7 (.563) in Consolation games since they started in 1998. Our CUTTERS have amassed a 73 season football record 1943-2015 of 322-330-14 (.494). After beginning that first season in 1943 with a 2-1 (.667) JV record getting started, Coach Marty Fischbein’s brand new CUTTERS posted a remarkable varsity record of 4-1-1 (.800) and Fair Lawn did not have a losing season until 1950. The 50s, 60s and 80s were highly successful decades. Old time Fair Lawn fans will never forget the 22 game non-losing streak 1964-66 that was broken by a shocking 40-34 Ridgewood upset on Thanksgiving Day 1966 before 13,000 fans at SASSO FIELD.

A word about the schedule. Change is afoot! Most leagues in North Jersey have merged into a new North Jersey Super Football Conference (NJSFC) in an effort to end the scheduling of public schools against parochial powerhouses. On December 7th a statewide vote to separate the parochial schools in football passed. Some tinkering may still be done but, as of this writing, our CUTTERS are slated to play in the NJSFC Freedom Division Blue with Indian Hills, Northern Highlands, Northern Valley/Old Tappan and Teaneck. Fair Lawn has winning records against all of them although some of the rivalries are extremely close. Crossover games are presently scheduled against Dickinson, Kearny, Passaic, Paterson Eastside, and Memorial of West New York.
   

The return of a number of players next season and the freshmen group moving up could see our CUTTERS improve. I enjoyed being “The Voice of the Cutters on The Gridiron” for the 19th season and working with my spotter, Shawn Kerestes. For many years before that, my twin brother, Bill, and I were the “spotters” for long time popular Fair Lawn announcer Joe Hausmann, who now announces for the HIGHLANDERS of Northern Highlands and the IRONMEN of Don Bosco. I can hardly wait for next year! Until then, GO CUTTERS GO!!