What a difference a year – and a win – makes as New Brunswick kicks off ’26 with trip to Highland Park

The head coach of the Highland Park football team, Shawn Harrison, knows much of what Geoff Chrisman, the second-year New Brunswick mentor, went through in 2025.

Last season, Chrisman took over a New Brunswick football team that had lost 23 straight games coming into the season. They started the year, 0-9, but in their finale, snapped what grew to a 32-game skid with a 36-0 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro’s North-South co-op.

Now, they come into 2026 off a victory in their last game, something that hadn’t happened since 2018, when they beat East Brunswick in a consolation game.

Harrison’s squad did something similar three seasons ago, breaking an even longer streak with a win down the Shore over Point Pleasant Beach.

One difference, though, is that Harrison had been with the program for years, even before he was named head coach before the COVID pandemic. Chrisman just stepped in officially last June. And it took him time to learn the personnel, and for his players to learn about him.

This year, it’s a different vibe for the Zebras, as they visit the Owls Friday night at 7:00 in the second Big Central Game of the Week to open the season live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Tune in at 6:45 for the pregame show with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel; click here to listen.

New Brunswick loses their starting quarterback, but Chrisman really likes Jadriyel “Jo Jo” Morfa, a freshman who only attempted two passes last season. He’ll be handing off a lot to Arisniel Mota-Sanchez, who also was a freshman last season, and carried the ball 21 times for 144 yards and two scores. Of that, 120 yards and both touchdowns, with a long of 83, came in that momentous win over West Windsor-Plainsboro.

Chrisman says he has the “potential to be a special player,” but points out he only started playing football in eighth grade. This year, he’s bulked up, is stronger, and “wants to be the guy.”

“He has great grades, great personality,” Chrisman says. He’s also been named a team captain – as a sophomore.

Defensively, Chrisman says the Zebras will go after people, and play aggressive. Although for at least the first few weeks, they’ll be without their returning sack leader, Bradly Romero, who had two of the team’s nine last season. Romero broke his foot in the preseason, but is expected to return.

Click below to hear New Brunswick football coach Geoff Chrismans talk about the Zebras, and their season opener at Highland Park, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: