North Brunswick senior WR/DB Sal Fama-Linn at Conference Media Day at Kean University’s Harwood Arena in Union on August 5, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
It wasn’t that long ago the North Brunswick football team was thriving, winning seven, eight, nine games a year on a regular basis, even going 7-1 during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, with no significant dropoff the next year like so many teams faced.
But the last two years have been struggles, going 2-7 in 2024, and 0-9 last season, their first winless campaign since 1998, the last of three that decade.
And while the nature of high school sports is often cyclical – something veteran head coach Mike Cipot had previously managed to avoid – sometimes it takes hold anyway. But Cipot isn’t exactly buying that either.
“We’ve got to focus on the fundamentals,” Cipot told Central Jersey Sports Radio at Big Central Media Day. “We’ve got to get back to what we do best.”
But Cipot also noticed that last year’s team lacked the type of speed they had when in the program’s better years. That speed seems more evident this off season, with many guys having had a successful track season.
While senior QB Zach Cipot – the head coach’s nephew – is gone after a thousand-yard passing season, top receiver Sal Fama-Linn (53 catches, 625 yards, 2 TD) is back, while Kaji Brown and Jasiah Hogans both saw experience behind center last season. But the Raiders will want more from their run game, which only gained 571 yards as a team in 2025.
The defense also will need to be shored up after allowing nearly 40 points a game last season. If the “back to fundamentals” approach works – think proper tackling technique – it could be a better year for the Raiders.
There’s certainly work to do, but for Cipot, it’s not without precedent. Hired in April of 2017, he took a team that was 1-9 the year prior – and hadn’t won more than two games in any of the previous five seasons – and got them to 6-4, then 10-2 in 2018 with a trip to the Central Jersey Group 5 final.
It’s been done before. The Raiders just need to do it again.
Click below to learn more about the North Brunswick Raiders in 2026 from head coach Mike Cipot, senior WR/DB Sal Fama-Linn and senior two-way lineman Tomi Osho with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko at Big Central Conference Media Day:
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