Jim McConville, Special to NorthJersey.com

LYNDHURST – New Milford came into Saturday a hurting team, missing two offensive linemen, a cornerback and a wide receiver among five injured starters. They left with destiny in their own hands.

Thanks to that ‘next man up’ mentality, the Knights were able to keep Lyndhurst at bay long enough for the offense to turn a pair of turnovers into fourth quarter touchdowns on the way to a 28-6 win in a NJIC Liberty showdown.

“We did what we had to do to get the win today,” New Milford coach Billy Wilde said. “We got some great contributions from the backup guys and I’m really excited about the result.”

New Milford, now 5-0, was missing both starting offensive guards, who are week to week to return. In their stead, junior Shane Morgan and sophomore Doug Korzelius stepped in and didn’t miss a beat.

Similarly, cornerback Branden Flecha stepped into the lineup and had an interception, the first of back-to-back-to back turnovers. The Knight defense forced three straight turnovers in the second half.

“We’ve been playing good defense all year,” Wilde said. “On a day where we were in a tight game, we were able to get both defense and good special teams play to keep us out of trouble.”

Trouble certainly found Lyndhurst, now 3-2, as they suffered another huge setback when junior quarterback Brian Podolski went down with just under eight minutes left in the game on Matt Gilmour’s second sack of the game.

He sustained a significant left knee injury that is likely going to jeopardize the remainder of his season. Sophomore Anthony Lembo came on for Podolski to finish out the game.

Things didn’t start out well for New Milford, as a fumble on the first offensive play gave the Golden Bears a short field, but the Knight defense stiffened and Ben Franchino came in to nail a 38-yard field goal for a 3-0 Lyndhurst lead.

Quarterback Ryan Picinic found Nick Klein for 44 yards late in the first half to set up a Bart Nativo six-yard run for a score 48 seconds before halftime.

A big kickoff return by Jason Lauria to the New Milford 42 to open the second half lead to another Franchino field goal, this one a 32-yarder that had the Bears within one score, but the next three Lyndhurst possessions ended in turnovers.

The Flecha interception was the first, but New Milford couldn’t score. Rhys Farley got the next one at the New Milford 16, and they did cash that one in with Picinic getting the final 19 yards on an option keep left.

Lyndhurst fumbled the kickoff, giving the Knights a short field and an eventual John DeSena 7-yard touchdown run with 8:09 left in the game.

What does it mean: New Milford needs only to beat Harrison next week in order to win the Liberty Division crown and make the four-team NJIC championship playoff.  For Lyndhurst, they must rally around their likely new starting QB and look to find a berth in the postseason.

Stat line: Picinic was an efficient 8 of 10 passing for 121 yards, with Farley grabbing 4 for 68 yards.  Nativo ran 17 times for 69 yards, while Matt McElroy had 6 tackles and a pass breakup.

Podolski ran 10 times for 99 yards and was 7 of 12 passing for 70 yards before the injury.  Franchino had 4 catches for 54 yards and Nick Frey was in on nine tackles with a forced fumble and a pass breakup.  Matt Tomko added 8 tackles, 3 for loss, for the Golden Bears.