East Brunswick seeks first win when Sayreville visits Friday night

The long series between the teams hasn’t always been kind to East Brunswick.

The Bears have had their moments against Sayreville, like a great revenge win in 2019, avenging a regular season loss with an upset of the top-ranked Bombers in the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group 4 playoffs en route to East Brunswick’s second state title under longtime head coach Marcus Borden.

Now, one of his many proteges will try to get his team’s first win of the season against a Sayreville team jockeying for position in the middle of the North 4 playoff race.

The Bears (0-4) and 8th-ranked Bombers (2-2) will square off in East Brunswick Friday night in the Big Central Game of the Week on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with kickoff from Jay Doyle Field scheduled for 7:00, and pregame at 6:45 pm.

Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino will call all the action; click here to listen.

East Brunswick has struggled to put points on the board this season, but has been in all but one of its four games. After dropping their opener on a Thursday night in Hillsborough, 42-6, they were within ten points in a loss at Monroe, 15 in a home loss to South Brunswick, and lost 17-7 last week at Old Bridge in the Battle of Route 18.

While last year’s group was a senior squad with experience (read: many two- and three-year starters), this year’s senior-laden group has less time under their belt, and that’s shown. Fourth-year head coach Andy Steinfeld is just focused on them getting better, and avoiding costly and untimely mistakes.

Running an option with some spread, the BEars are easily led offensively by Ben Solimini, a senior quarterback who’s more of a threat to run than pass. He’s the team’s leading rusher with 506 yards in four games – three over 100 – and has scored five touchdowns, the only rushing touchdowns the team has.

He’s only thrown for 123 yards and one touchdown this season, and his longest connection went for 17 yards.