New Brunswick junior defensive tackle Arion Lugo James at Big Central Conference Media Day at Kean University’s Harwood Arena in Union on August 5, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
It’s all about the infrastructure: the fundamentals, the accountability, the weight room.
There’s an old adage that football games are never won on Friday nights, under the big bright lights, or on Saturday afternoons. They’re won during the week, in practice, drills, lifting, sticking to a healthy diet.
Even more, they’re won with the time and effort put in during those two-weeks of preseason camp leading up to that very first game week.
For the New Brunswick football team, a 32-game losing streak came to an end in the 2025 season finale, a 26-0 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro’s co-op team that also was its first shutout since 2009, the final season of the John Quinn era, which brought two state championships to the Hub City.
This year? Keep it going.
First-year head coach Geoff Chrisman had a lot of work to do last year to help his program pick up that first W since a victory over Monroe in late 2022. And he’ll have more work to do this year.
But so will his student-athletes. After all, they’re the ones that make it all go.
Senior quarterback Nazir Pollard has graduated, but there are good numbers in the program, and some skill players returning, among them sophomore runningback Ari Mota-Sanchez, who rushed for 144 yards on 21 carries and scored two touchdowns last season. One of them came early in that win over West Windsor-Plainsboro, and was crucial to get the ball rolling.
Now, they want to keep it rolling.
Click below to learn more about the New Brunswick Zebras in 2026 from head coach Geoff Chrisman, junior DT Arion Lugo-James and sophomore RB Ari Mota-Sanchez with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko at Big Central Conference Media Day:
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