MONTCLAIR- As he begins his 13th season at the helm of Montclair Kimberley Academy football, veteran coach Anthony Rea knows that the challenges will be mighty this 2026 fall gridiron campaign as his youthful Cougars prepare to take on what will certainly be a formidable slate of foes.
MKA, which opens the new season hosting Bergen Tech, 4 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 27, at Van Brunt Field, graduated 14 seniors off last fall’s 2-7 squad, and returns just seven seniors this fall on a 26-man squad.
“I think there are a number of challenging contests, starting right out of the gate with an early contest against Bergen Tech,” said Rea, who is 56-58 in his first 13 seasons guiding the Cougars. “Horace Mann (Sept. 26 at home) and Fieldston (Oct. 3 at home) are always tough opponents and those contests always seem to produce close games, and this is our first time having to take the trip out to the King School in Stamford, Conn. (Sept. 19). Those out of state trips are always tough.
“Then, of course, there are the very difficult "MIFL (Metropolitan Independent Football League) South Division" games with Pingry (last year's MIFL overall champs), Poly Prep (last year's MIFL runner up), and Morristown-Beard, which had a very solid season last year.
“Our schedule doesn't let up, so we have to be prepared and ready to go each week.”
The Cougars have spent some valuable time together in June and July preparing for the 2026 season.
“We have had a very good Summer, as we reached the quarterfinals of the 7 on 7 Tournament at Cedar Grove where we fell to a very good Newark Central squad,” continued Rea. “We also had a good 7 on 7 with Verona and Manchester Regional, and competed in the Wayne Valley ‘Big Man Competition.‘
“By continuing to work both in the weight room and on the field over the summer, we continued to get better and saw some of what we hope will work this fall. We also continued to compete with much bigger schools in these tournaments and competitions, which reminds our players what we are capable of, regardless of the opponent.“
Even though MKA dropped its final four games last fall, it competed well, including in a hard-fought 21-12 loss at Group 5 Columbia in Maplewood, and 17-13 to Fieldston in the MIFL playoffs.
The Cougars had a banner season in 2024 with an 8-1 mark falling only to Poly Prep in a season-ending MIFL contest.
While the current squad is young there are some talented and experienced players who are ready to step up into even more prominent performances this season led by senior co-captains Alex Scuorzo, a standout linebacker who had 55 tackles last fall, and will be a key returnee at running back, and Nico Schwartz, who will be another two-way performer at both wide receiver and safety.
Other skill position players to watch include junior quarterback KJ Wade, who split time with the since-graduated Allan Haynes in 2025 and will now be the lead man as the Cougars starting signal caller. He is a strong passer and runner plus will have a nice bevy of wide receivers to turn to including Schwartz, juniors Isaac Lesser, Ryan Gambuzza and Antonio Sousa and exciting sophomore Isaiah Medley.
Gambuzza will also see action at running back providing depth along with the veteran Scuorzo
Wade will also see some time at DB while Schwartz (free safety), Lesser (safety), Gambuzza (linebacker), Sousa (cornerback) and Medley (returning starter at cornerback) will all boost the defensive secondary.
Medley is also a key man on both kick and punt returns to bolster strong special teams which include the reliable Sousa who returns as the team’s placekicker (8 of 10 extra points and 1 of 2 field goals in 2025) while also handling the punting duties.
MKA should have a deep and strong line on both sides of the ball with veteran performers such as senior Arthur Strouse (center or guard and D-Line), junior Colin Duffy (left tackle and D-Line) and talented sophomores Julius Hammer (right guard and D-Line) and Trevor Duhaime (right tackle and D-Line).
Among the other young players who could see significant time as well are promising sophomores in OL-LB Dejan Milic, QB-LB Tej Bakaya OL-DL Noah Cohen and OL-DL Jake Goldstein.
Another big plus for MKA football is the factor that its outstanding coaching staff returns in full with Rea along with John Lenczuk (OL/DL), Zach Shaw (QB/RB/LB) who will handle the bulk of the defensive work, and Ed Connell (OL/DL) Ethan Fusco (RB-LB) helping out Rea on the offensive side.
Also returning is Spencer Pyke (WR/DB) combined with Shaw in also doing a superlative job with the JV team, while Pyke is also invaluable as the MKA middle school head coach where he prepares many of the future varsity Cougar gridders.
“We have the same staff – including some who have been here longer – since 2022,” added Rea. “So, this will be our fifth year as a full staff, which in this day and age I feel is a nice bit of continuity.”
MKA will also prepare for the season opener with Bergen Tech by scrimmaging Indian Hills, 11 a.m., Friday, Aug. 21, in Oakland.
“We scrimmaged with them last year and it was a positive experience so we figured it was another good fit this year,” said Rea. “Coach Marangi has that program moving in the right direction and it’s great to get to work with them and challenge ourselves.”
MKA currently has a 7-game regular season schedule with a couple of bye weeks after the opener vs. Bergen Tech, but is still hoping to be able to add additional games, including with the customary season-ending MIFL playoff games.
“We currently have seven games this year instead of eight due to the fact that we couldn’t really find a good fit for either of our bye weeks,” said Rea. “Each bye week (Labor Day weekend and Rosh Hashanah) will also lead to shortened weeks of practice so I do believe it will feel more like a single bye.
“We are still hoping to play nine or 10 games this year as we may have some space on the back end of our schedule plus we have an MIFL playoff game – or games if we advance – to be played as well.”
NOTES- Along with the 7 seniors, MKA’s football roster also includes 5 juniors, 8 sophomores and 6 freshmen…The Cougar linemen performed well in the Wayne Valley ‘Big Man’ summer event, including defeating Westwood in a ‘Tug of War’ behind the efforts of Duffy, Scuorzo, Milic, Hammer, Duhaime and Noah Cohen…Also, very impressive for the MKA football program is the news that there are five former Cougars set to start their college football careers in Kalvin Thomas (Howard University), Charlie O’Hara (Washington & Lee) Nate Chou (Wesleyan), Langston Ajayi (MIT) and Frances Ogbuehi (Tufts).
MKA 2026 Regular Season Schedule:
Thursday, Aug. 27: vs. Bergen Tech, 4
Saturday, Sept. 19: at King School (Conn.), 3
Saturday, Sept. 26: vs. Horace Mann (N.Y.), 1
Saturday, Oct. 3: vs. Fieldston (N.Y.), 2
Saturday, Oct. 10: vs. Morristown-Beard, 1:30
Friday, Oct. 16: at Pingry, 7
Saturday, Oct. 24: vs. Poly Prep (N.Y.), 1
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