Brez 500

It was September of 1975. President Gerald Ford was trying to heal the nation from the scars of Watergate and a war that had polarized the two political parties. The Red Sox were on their way to breaking their fans’ hearts again in the World Series. And in Scotch Plains young Tom Breznitsky was coaching his first varsity soccer game.

Now fast forward twenty nine years. Red Sox fans are still having their hearts broken and the nation is divided as ever about another foreign war but
Breznitsky is still coaching and winning. If the team continues at its current
pace, he should reach his 500th victory before the end of this season, a feat
accomplished by only four other New Jersey high school soccer coaches.

Breznitsky took over from long time coach Al Formicella who was forced to
retire due to health problems. Amazing as it may seem today, Breznitsky thought he would only coach soccer until he could become head baseball coach, a sport he was much more knowledgeable about.

“I figured I would keep coaching junior varsity baseball and eventually take
over as head coach, but the coach never left,” said Breznitsky with a chuckle.

Although he would never become head coach Breznitsky fondly recalls his baseball tenure. “Those were good years on baseball. We had a lot of success and I experienced my first state championship in 1977.”

Breznitsky won the first soccer game, he ever coached, 5-0 over Roselle Catholic on four goals by senior Alphonse Checchio. Breznitsky remembers little about. that game. “It was a long time ago. It’s pretty fuzzy in my mind,” said Breznitsky.

Checchio would wind up with 31 goals that year and became the first of a pantheon of Raider players to gain All Union County and All State honors. Checchio, who lives around the corner from his coach has vivid memories of that first year when the Raiders were 10-5-2, one of Breznitsky’s lowest win totals.

“He didn’t have a clue how to coach and I didn’t have a clue how to play but we both wanted to win, so we put up with each other” said Checchio.

The most memorable win of that first season came in the Union County Tournament when the Raiders, who had snuck into the Union County Tournament as the eighth and final seed stunned top seed Governor Livingston 1-0 on their home field on a goal by Checchio off a pass from sophomore John Appezzato, who would become Breznitsky’s second big star, and was Union County Player of the Year in 1977.

Appezzato and another player on that first team Ed Zazzali both stayed in town and have had their sons grow up watching and then playing for the Raiders.

Zazzali had played for Breznitsky on the Junior Varsity baseball team and though he had never played soccer, figured he was a good enough athlete and had the fitness to play.

"Brez told me my job was to chase the player with the ball on the other team
and when I got it, to pass it Al Checchio and stay out of his way," recalled
Zazzali. His son Eddie played for Breznitsky from 2001-2003 and is now playing at Rowan University...

Appezzato’s son AJ, a senior on the 2004 Raiders, scored a key goal in one Scotch Plains Fanwood’s biggest wins of the year, a 4-2 road win at then number seven ranked West Orange.

“It’s very interesting playing for him after spending my early life watching them and then being a ball boy,” said the younger Appezzato.

Did his father give him any advice on playing for his old coach?
“He told me he yells a lot but he knows what he’s talking about so I should pay close attention.”

“It makes me feel old,” said Breznitsky when asked of the significance of
coaching the progeny of his former players. The younger Zazzali played three years on the varsity with Breznitsky’s son, Ryan, a two time first team all state player now at Rutgers. Ryan’s’ final two games in 2003 were truly special, leading the Raiders to the section title in a melodramatic double overtime battle with Middletown South. It gave his father his eleventh section title and first since 1998, a major drought for Scotch Plains. In the state semi-finals against Ramapo, the younger Breznitsky scored two goals to lead the team back from a two-goal deficit in the second half only to lose in a dramatic penalty kick shootout.

Despite the pressure of playing for his famous father, Ryan almost seemed to thrive on it. “He never let me get off easy. He probably pushed me harder than other players because of what he expected out of me.

“We knew we were both under the microscope because of who he was. Anytime I messed up would be big news, but we accepted that,” said Ryan Breznitsky.

“Coaching my son was a great treat. It was much better than people had said it was going to be,” said Breznitsky.

“We had a unique relationship. I miss him not being here.
Eddie Zazzali was also a joy to coach. He brought his father’s enthusiasm and a winning attitude.”

The elder Zazzali sees little change in Breznitsky's intensity from the coach he first met over 30 years ago.

"We had the young Brez who really wanted to be the Varsity Baseball Coach back then. I guarantee the baseball program would have had all the
accolades if Brez had coached baseball. Kids and Parents come and go, but the expectations remain very high, and Brez wants it that way."

It took Breznitsky some time to build the soccer program into the dynasty it is today. He credits an exceptional group of players led by three times all state player Lino DiCuollo, who Breznitsky considers his best player.
In addition to DiCuollo, who was a college All American at Rutgers, other key members of his first state finalist team in 1985 were such Scotch Plains legends as Vic and Alex Passucci as well as, current Raider assistant coach Joe Mortarulo. In their first game of the 1985 season they made a major statement by winning 3-1 at Wall, one of the state’s top soccer powers, before a packed house.

“Coach told us that we had nothing to fear and we played with a lot of confidence ,” recalled Mortarulo.

The sophomore-dominated team would lose to West Deptford in the state
finals. Breznitsky considers the 1986 team perhaps his best ever but that team was upset by Randolph in the sectional finals. Finally in 1987, Breznitsky broke through defeating Wall 4-0 for the first of his seven group championships. That team outscored its opposition by an astounding 120-6
and nine of the eleven starters wound up playing at Division I universities.

The Raiders in 1991-2 gave him his first back-to-back titles and in 1995-98,
led by Todd Moser, went to four straight state championship games winning three. Moser preceded Ryan Breznitsky to Rutgers, where he was a four year starter and co-captained the team his senior year. Although Moser was also a four-year starter for the Raiders and was co-captain his final two years, the two often had a contentious relationship, especially Moser’s senior year.

“He was pretty tough on me that year,” recalled Moser. “We had a very young team and he wanted me to set an example. He set the bar for me at a very high level and I wasn’t always able to reach it but it made me a better player and made us a better team.

“He’s mellowed out some since I graduated. He almost seems calm.”

After an uncharacteristically slow 1-2 start, the Raiders went on a six game
winning streak, before losing to Kearny 1-0. Five of the Raiders’ first ten
games were against team rated among the top fifteen in the state another
Breznitsky trait.

“Every year he tries to schedule everybody. He wants the team to be ready for the tournaments at the end of the year,” added Moser.

In addition to his state titles, Breznitsky’s teams have almost been unbeatable in the Union County tournament, having won four straight titles and 19 straight games, before being upset in the finals by Linden last year.

The long line of success has brought a legion of loyal former players. One of the traditions in Scotch Plains is for the seniors to hold pasta dinners before big games. “This has helped unify the teams throughout the years and is one of the reasons alumni to this day come back and helped Brez and the soccer program. He has taught us that we are all one - A Raider no matter what age ,” said John Appezzato.

“ If there is one thing Brez has taught us is that we are all in it for Scotch Plains Soccer no matter how old we are. We ,the former players, are always welcomed by him and I respect that, up to this date.”

When asked how much longer he will coach, Breznitsky hedges and says “Maybe another four or five years. You know when you’ve had enough... I may quit teaching first and keep coaching...”

When he’s not teaching on the soccer field, Breznitsky is teaching Basic Biology plus Anatomy and Physiology at Scotch Plains Fanwood High School.

“It is amazing how hard he still works, how much he prepares the team for anything that can happen. They are ready for any situation ,” said Mortarulo, who has assisted Breznitsky for the past nine years.

While seemingly as intense as ever Breznitsky seems to have his imminent achievement in the right perspective.
“500 wins tells you have had some longevity and you’ve been lucky enough to have had some great players.”