The Paramus Spartans football team’s losing streak came to an end in Fair Lawn tonight when they defeated the Cutters 21-7. It was the first win for the Spartans in 685 days.
For the first time in 15 years, the battle of Century Road was renewed and it was a high stakes matchup between the bordering towns. While Fair Lawn aimed to start the season 2-1 in their first year back to being playoff eligible after spending the past six seasons in the Ivy League, Paramus spoiled it with a long overdue victory.
“Well, you know, it feels great first of all. It took us a lot longer than we wanted to, but I’ve said, for 11 games or whatever it was that we were a really, really good football team,” Spartans head coach Joe Sabella said. “We were a really good football team that just never finished a game and needed to learn what it takes to win and, you know, tonight, even though it was harder than we would have liked, we found a way to win, and it was good to get the monkey off our back.”
Paramus struck first for a 7-0 lead after forcing an opening drive three and out. Getting the ball at their own 40 and going downfield, quarterback Jakob Hosie ran it for 23 yards and followed up with a 16 yard pass to running back Mario DiNapoli, who’d score on the two yard line a few plays later. They’d force another three and out afterwards, were in total control, and were moving down the field as the first quarter ended.
It took some time, but Fair Lawn finally woke up. They made a stop on a gusty 4th and 11 call by the Spartans which put them in great field position. The stop was clear momentum as their offensive play took a complete 180 and they started to work. Between finding the open man in the air, and getting the extra yards on the run, they finished the drive in the end zone when the quarterback Ariel Nachmias ran it in himself from the five yard line. With time running out in the half, they managed to tie it.
With a little under two minutes left in the half Paramus had a chance to try and take the lead. However, things didn’t go as planned. Between muffing the kick (which actually turned into a positive gain) to a bad snap resulting in a loss of yards, they decided to go the conservative route and let the clock run out despite roughly 40 seconds left on the clock. Headed to the locker rooms it was tied at seven.
The Spartans started out the second half slowly; there was no decrease in their play, they were just taking their time. In a nine minute span, they went coast to coast, marching down the field, and ending with a 11 yard run from DiNapoli to score his second touchdown of the game. Not only did they add to their lead, they put the pressure on the Cutters who were now short on time.
Getting close to the halfway point of the fourth quarter and down seven, Fair Lawn needed to get something going. Their quarterback Nachmias, who has an arm, decided to try a deep ball. But his throw was far shorter than the receivers route and it landed in the hands of Safety Alexandro Perides, who had nobody near him for yards. Paramus cashed in on the mistake and scored for the second time in the half when the quarterback Hosie ran it in from the 11 yard line to make it 21-7.
There was just under eight minutes left in the game and while the Cutters had some time, they needed to score fast if they wanted a chance to tie it. They’d get into Spartan territory on a few big plays, but in the end they’d eventually be stopped, turning it over on downs.
It was right in front of them, Paramus needed to hold on in the final minutes if they wanted to get their first win in nearly two years. They’d do just that, getting multiple key first downs to let the clock run out. The Spartans went out on top in dominating fashion 21-7.
One of the key factors in today’s victory was the Paramus running game. Coach Sabella mentioned earlier in the week that the biggest element that they needed to work on was running the ball better. They showed practice makes perfect, running for over 200 yards and three touchdowns.
“We felt comfortable about our line coming into this year,” Sabella said. “There were four starters from last year, They had experience, they worked hard in the off season, they got bigger and stronger. We saw a little bit of that week zero, Week one kind of got a little frustrated we couldn’t get it going, and then tonight we got back going.”
It has been quite some time since Paramus last won a football game. Between a rough 2025 and starting out 0-2 this season, tonight was a moral boost for the program. They couldn’t have gotten it done without coach Sabella who truly cares and believes in them. He proved just that in a loudly yelled half-time speech that clearly ignited a fire in his team:
“It was just about making these guys believe in themselves that they can get it done, and, you know, I wanted them to really, really feel that. You know it was a tale of two quarters in the first half. You know, we played very, very well in the first, and we didn’t play so well in the second, but we knew we were the better team. If we played like that in the first quarter, we would have got the job done.”
Paramus will look to keep the ball rolling next week against Pascack Valley.
