Youth the Name of the Game for Gridiron Gang

The East Brunswick High football team was set to only return six letterwinners from last year.

Now, make that five.

Donald Urschel is out for the year with an injury. This is quite a loss as Urschel is one of the best sprinters in the state and was a threat to score every time he touched the ball.

"Losing Donald was a big loss," noted East Brunswick Coach Marcus Borden, who is entering his 29th season at the school.

Fortunately for East Brunswick, one of the returnees is quarterback Mike Cia, a senior

"He's one of our hardest workers," Borden noted. "He has a year under his belt and that should help."

Cia is one of the captains on the team. The other captain is Jake Wojtowicz, a senior that plays tight end and defensive end.

"He should be a dominating force on the defensive line," Borden said.

Sean Garrett, a senior, also returns on the defensive line. Garrett is also an offensive lineman.

"He's a returning starter on the defensive line," Borden noted. "We're asking him to play both ways this year."

Nduka Onuchuwu is a senior that plays inside linebacker.

"He's extremely aggressive and a hard nosed guy," Borden said. "He started several games last year at inside linebacker."

Haydn Warren is a senior that plays tight end and defensive end.

"He has the best hands on the team," Borden said. "He's a big target (6' 4") and he catches everything you throw to him."

The other seniors on the team are Alex Malveaux (WR/DB), Mani Ananth (OL/LB), Chris Kania (OL/DL), Kasif Muhammad (OL/DL), Yuriy Steblak (RB/DE), Jason Baum (OL/DL), Ryan Berdoff (WR/DB), Roman Gromyak (punter) and Obina Onuchuwu (OL/DL).

In addition to graduation and injuries, East Brunswick also lost a few members of its team when those players elected not to come out for the team this year.

"That's the way it is in high school football," Borden said. "You always have a lot of new players coming in to the program. We're definitely a young team."

According to Borden, that youth showed in scrimmages against Colonia and Hillsborough.

"At this stage, we're just trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle," Borden said. "We have a lot of sophomores and we're going to make some sophomore mistakes."

The sophomores on the team are Eric Savad (QB/DB), Christian Chlan (WR/LB), Josh Fortune (WR/DB), George Tadroes (OL/DL), Doug Scott (OL/DL), Cody Burnham (WR/DB), Yoku Crentsil (RB/DB), Anthony Mastrolia (OL/DL), Jon Gerhratz (RB/DB), David DeCarlo (QB), Kayo Ogunwale (OL/DL), Cody Dow (OL/DL), Billy Azzinaro (C/DL), Tim Brown (OL/DL), Jake Stolzenberg (C/DL), Javon Ganzaroli (TE/LB), Kyle Keliher (OL/DL), Chris Jones (RB/DB), Antonio Perez (RB/DE), Chris Wolfe (WR/DB), John Botros (WR/DB) and Shoaib Menkri (WR/DB).

The other members of the team are juniors Eric Mulvihill (OL/DL), Teryn Reed (K), John Boyko (K), Jayson Parker (RB/DB), Teji Murari (OL/DL), William Brooks (OL/DE), Joe Talbot (OL/DL), Matt Berns (OL/DL0, Shazain Yusuf (WR/DB), James Gesualdi (WR/DB), Kevin Kluczek (OL/DL), Devrim Dereli (OL/DL), Jared Tardiff (OL/DL), Mike Soliman (OL/DL), Wesley Lynch (OL/DL), Anthony Fisher (QB/DB), Romany Botros (WR/DB), Connor McCarthy (TE/LB), Matt Bettin (RB/DB), David Camacho (WR/DB), Amanvir Dhanoa (TE/LB), Ben Weinfeld (WR/LB), Fady Beshara (RB/LB), Damola Adedokun (OL/DL), Brian Kim (OL/DL), Chris Ramos (RB/DB), Lee Urschel (RB/LB), Dante Washington (RB/DE) and Fady Beshara (RB/LB).

East Brunswick will open the season against Monroe on Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. Monroe defeated East Brunswick in the season opener, 21-18, last year.

"I saw (Monroe) in a scrimmages," Borden noted. "They have a pretty good returning running back and they are well coached. They will be a challenge."

Borden expects his team to be ready for the challenge,

"We'll be competitive," Borden said. "Our program will always be competitive. The reality is we know we have a young team. We'll just try and limit our mistakes."