Tag: Zack Gega

by Mike Pavlichko

CJSR analyst Marcus Borden sits down with new East Brunswick football coach Zack Gega

“I feel incredible.”

That was the first thought that popped into Zack Gega’s mind as he sat down with Central Jersey Sports Radio football analyst Marcus Borden a day after being approved by the Board of Education as the next East Brunswick football coach.

Gega is a Middlesex County guy, having played scholastically at Woodbridge under Brian Russo, then Bill Nyers. He later coached under Joe LaSala at Woodbridge – he was on the staff of the 2019 team that played in the North 1 Group 4 title game against Northern Highlands – and most recently worked under Andy Steinfeld at East Brunswick, bumping up to Offensive Coordinator this past season after Steinfeld was let go two weeks before the season, and OC Matt Pazinko held the job of head coach for the year.

Gega was at East Brunswick when the Bears went 8-4 in 2021, the year after the COVID-shortened season, and went to the playoffs, falling to eventual Group 5 champion Toms River North in the first round.

He’ll take over a Bears program that was 2-8 this past fall, following back-to-back one-win seasons. But they were a young team, led by sophomore quarterback Sean Christie, who threw for nearly 1,000 yards this season.

He was also the team’s leading rusher, while No. 2 receiver Gabriel Marquez will return as a junior, just like Christie. Some of their top defensive players, statistically, also will return, including George Crostewitz, Nate Charleston, Sean Nieves, and Noah DeJesus, who’s also the team’s kicker.

Click below to hear new East Brunswick football coach Zack Gega talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Marcus Borden:

by Mike Pavlichko

East Brunswick Board of Ed expected to approve assistant Zack Gega as new Bears football coach

As it looks for stability in the football program – which was thrown into chaos this summer when the Board of Education declined to bring back Andy Steinfeld just two weeks before preseason camp was to start – the panel is expected to approve the promotion of Offensive Coordinator Zack Gega to become the Bears’ next head coach at its regular meeting Thursday night.

Gega’s name is on the Board of Education Agenda for Thursday’s meeting, which was posted online Wednesday afternoon.

An assistant under Steinfeld, Gega’s hiring could bring some consistency to the program after the former coach’s dismissal. In the quick turnaround after Steinfeld was let go, Offensive Coordinator Matt Pazinko took over for the year as interim head coach. Gega was the OC this past season.

Pazinko, himself, initially applied for the position, but later withdrew, and told CJSR this week he’d love to remain on staff if he’s asked to.

Steinfeld went 18-28 in five seasons as head coach, including 8-4 the year after COVID – not an easy task considering how much the pandemic season cost teams in games played and experience – and went 16-11 in his first three seasons before going 1-8 in 2022, and 1-9 in 2023.

This year’s squad went 2-8, with wins over Hamilton and South Brunswick.

Gega played high school football at Woodbridge under Brian Russo, then Bill Nyers, graduating in 2013, but injuries prevented him from going to play at college. While a junior at Kean, he joined Joe LaSala’s staff at Woodbridge, and was there through the 2020 COVID-shortened season – including the Barrons’ 2019 run to the North 1 Group 4 title game – before coming to East Brunswick to work under Steinfeld.

In a bit of irony, longtime former football coach Marcus Borden – who won two state championships with the Bears in the 2000s – is also on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting. A Spanish teacher at the high school, Borden – who also is Central Jersey Sports Radio’s high school football analyst – the Board is expected to accept his retirement, effective at the end of the school year.