MARK HEINBACH THE NEW HEAD BOYS' SOCCER COACH CONTINUING WITH OLD TRADITIONS

Why change something if it works–and works well?

That is the mindset of Mark Heinbach, who has big shoes—successful ones at that—to fill when he embarks on his first season as the head varsity boys’ soccer coach at Bridgewater-Raritan High School.  Heinbach, who has been coaching in the Bridgewater-Raritan program since 2004, replaced hall of fame coach Rick Szeles, who retired last autumn after his brilliant 32 years of guiding the soccer program.

Szeles, who is a member of the New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association Hall of Fame, coached Bridgewater-Raritan to two Group 4 state championships, five state sectional titles while he won his sixth and final Somerset County Tournament championship and his 400th game of his storied career this past fall.

His 2023 team was also one of his finest when the Panthers concluded with a 12-1-4 record and was ranked as high as No, 6 in all of New Jersey late in the season.He walked away with a sparkling record of 401 victories against 159 defeats and 74 ties. Now his chief lieutenant, Coach Heinbach, will assume command of this high-profile program, which he revealed he plans to do little tinkering with. “I believe in what Rick created and will try to keep things as is, with not a lot of changes,” reported Coach Heinbach, who was appointed to his head coaching position by the Board of Education on February. 21. “His philosophy was not to just teach soccer but to teach our players life through soccer and teach them to become fine young men.”

Coach Heinbach, who is Social Studies Teacher for Grade 6 at the Hillside Intermediate School, does not lean on one set of a formation when attacking the goal but rather will adapt to his players and his foes.“It is good that our players know different formations in case we have to change during a game,” he said. But he does believe in building from the back on defense, an area of the field that he has a passion with..He was a defender during his playing days at East Brunswick High School and then for his freshman year at Drew University.He launched his coaching career in 2003 as a youth girls’ soccer coach at the Bridgewater Soccer Academy and then joined Bridgewater-Raritan High School as a volunteer coach in 2004. Coach Heinbach worked his way up and served as the freshman coach from 2005 through 2011 and then called the shots on the sideline for the junior varsity team from 2012 through this past fall.A good chunk of the nucleus of last year’s county champion squad has graduated but Coach Heinbach delivered a warning to Pingry School, Gill St. Bernard’s School, Hunterdon Central and the other teams that will challenge Bridgewater-Raritan this autumn.“We are not rebuilding and we will surprise some people,” he said.

Coach Heinbach is confident after watching his troops work out during summer practices and 7-on-7 matches.“They are excited and they will buy in what we are doing,” he added.Coach Heinbach will rely on three seasoned veterans to steer this squad—-seniors Ryan Plant and Yussuf Rehman, each a defender, and senior Logan Neno, a midfielder.“They are our leaders.” Coach Heinbach claimed.Overall, the coach is as excited with the makeup of his athletes.“They are good character kids,” he proudly stated.

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