Deja vu For Glen Ridge Football
As First-Year QB Leads The Way

Baseball’s ultimate wordsmith Yogi Berra once remarked in one of his classic ‘Yogi-sims’ that ‘It’s déjà vu all over again,’ and in the case of the Glen Ridge football team the past two seasons, the positive momentum generated for the Ridgers’ offensive unit has come with the superb performances of a pair of receivers turned quarterbacks as 2024 and 2025 share in a similar theme toward ultimately having a solid season.

Last fall, during a very competitive 5-5 campaign, it was then senior Brad Foster making the switch to QB after success as one of the team’s prime pass catchers the year before. This season, it’s another very versatile performer as former running back-slot receiver Zach Konetzni has taken his turn of stepping into the most important position on the field and either running or passing the ball for a Glen Ridge team that has now won three of its last four games.

The fifth-seeded Ridgers (5-3) travel to face fourth-seeded and defending sectional champion Cedar Grove, 7 p.m., Friday, in the first round of the North 2, Group 1 playoffs.

If Glen Ridge is going to be able to turn the tables on the home-standing Panthers (6-3) in the N2G1 opener, it’s going to mean more high productivity from its first-year starting signal caller.  

For his efforts in this past Saturday’s 44-6 win at Englewood, where he rushed 16 times for 285 yards and scored 3 touchdowns, and also threw for 101 yards and another TD, Konetzni is the Parisi Fairfield/Sideline Chatter Athlete of the Week.

“For the second straight year we’ve gone with someone who has not really been a QB coming through the system, but we figured that we’d go with one of our best athletes at the position and see where he could take us,” said Glen Ridge second-year head coach Chris Strumolo. “Zach, like Brad, is someone who can do so many things to help the team win, and he has done just that in helping to lead the way for us this season.

“It’s been an amazing experience for me since I came to Glen Ridge last year. I knew it would be like starting out fresh and I liked that, plus I have found very coachable kids who come from great families and who work hard and enjoy playing football.

“Zach has helped this team in so many ways on both sides of the ball, and his impact as a dual threat at quarterback has been just another chapter in his success story here at Glen Ridge.”

Konetzni has completed 74 of 142 passes for 1,051 yards with 9 TDs and 4 Int. this fall, while also being the Ridgers’ leading rusher by a wide margin with 151 carries for 1,124 yards and 12 TDs.

Defensively, he is usually at safety in helping to lead the secondary - but he also can occasionally move over to be a cornerback where he is superb on coverage. He has made 46 tackles and - most impressively – leads the team with 7 interceptions, including two ‘Pick 6’s.’

Foster, who is now a student at Indiana University in the Big 10 where he enjoys playing flag football and being a member of a club lacrosse team, had his own fine senior season at Glen Ridge in 2024 as he passed for 1,506 yards and 14 TDs with 4 Int. and rushed for 831 yards and 11 TDs.

Meanwhile, Konetzni had 151 carries for 1,043 yards and 8 TDs through the air this fall and has caught 19 passes for 403 yards and 6 more TDs.
While he could have had another strong season as one of the top RB-slot receivers in the Super Football Conference, Konetzni was more than willing to follow in the footsteps of another superlative all-around athlete and former teammate and make the transition to QB for the 2025 gridiron campaign.

“At first it was difficult at times, but having the support of my teammates and the coaches, it’s all gone well, and I feel that it all continues to get better each week thanks to the repetition and the way my teammates have played so well alongside me,” said the 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior standout signal caller. “Watching some past games, and seeing the superb in-game decisions that Brad made to find success as a quarterback, has also helped me as I continue to learn more about playing the position; and it’s been a lot of fun!”

In his most recent effort at Englewood (2-6) Konetzni scored on a 10-yard run in the first quarter, a 25-yard TD run in the second quarter and then a 90-yard burst to pay dirt in the third quarter. Plus, he added a 25-yard TD pass to senior tight end John Leone in the fourth quarter.

Konetzni does a superb job of utilizing his arsenal of receivers, including Leone (26 receptions for 431 yards, 4 TDs) and fellow seniors JP Labadia (26-307-1 TD) and Myles Adams (5-72-2).

The Ridgers’ first-year QB can also receive some of the credit for getting Labadia – one of the school’s top all-around athletes – to come out for football for his senior season, and the lacrosse standout who also has played basketball for the Ridgers, has emerged as another of the football team’s top all-around performers.

“Zach brought him in and JP has been another unbelievable kid on this team who has fit in great while doing so many different things for us,” said Strumolo. “With great all-around athletes like Zach and JP it makes our job as coaches that much easier, and we have a number of kids like that on this team.”

For Konetzni and his teammates, a second opportunity against Cedar Grove - and now in a pressure-packed playoff setting - is a great way to move past a solid regular season in which the Ridgers had victories over the likes of North 2, Group 4 playoff team Newark Central (6-3) along with local rival Verona, while giving an undefeated Hoboken team all it could handle despite a narrow 21-14 setback in late September.

“The main goal heading into Friday night at Cedar Grove is to not beat ourselves with offsides or other penalties, and stay away from turnovers,” said the latest Parisi Fairfield/SC AOW. “One thing about the last time we played them was it was a rain game and there were some snaps I didn’t handle well, and we really weren’t very lucky in that game; yet we still played them tough.

“Cedar Grove is a good team and very well coached, and we know that we’ll have to play a tremendous game to beat them, but our coaches will have us well prepared and then it’s up to us to execute.

“I’m thankful that we’re in this position once again and it’s going to be great to be able to go out there and compete in the playoffs once again!”

Glen Ridge has emerged victorious in first-round playoff games the past two seasons, winning as a No. 7 seed at second-seeded Waldwick, 33-26, in 2023 under then coach Manj Singh, who is now the head man at Verona, and also last year in Strumolo’s first season at the helm with a 47-13 triumph vs. Pompton Lakes before falling at a very talented Butler, 40-20, in the N1G1 semifinals.

“We’re definitely excited to be back in the playoffs and with kids like Zach helping to lead the way I know that we’re going to go out there and battle,” said Strumolo. “I have a great bunch of kids who play football because they love football and want to be a part of moments like this!”

NOTES- Kotenzni is also a member of Glen Ridge’s track and field team during the spring season where he runs the 100- and 200-meter dash. The fleet-footed athlete has clocked 11.4 in the 100…His dad Josh is a former running back at Randolph where he played under the late John Bauer, Jr., and works the medical sales field. Mom Angie, a former soccer player and track performer during her high school days in Iowa, teaches pre-school in Glen Ridge. Zach’s younger sister Ayla, a freshman at Glen Ridge, is another athlete in the family as she plays field hockey, basketball and lacrosse…Kotenzni, an outstanding student who enjoys history and writing, is keeping his college football options open. He had an Oct. 27 visit to Cornell University where he is interested in the Red Raiders’ popular sprint football program…Kotenzi started at wide receiver as a sophomore during the 2023 Ridgers playoff run after missing three games that season with a knee injury.   

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