NorthJersey.com —Lyndhurst
Friday’s win was one for the ages.
And one for the Lyndhurst faithful who have waited 36 long years.
The Golden Bears defeated Parsippany, 26-7, Friday in the NJSIAA North 1 Group 2 title game at Joe Cipolla Field, winning their first sectional crown since 1983.
Senior running back Piotr Partyla rushed for a game-high 135 yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns and threw for another in just 30 minutes of action as Lyndhurst has won 20 of its last 22 games dating back to last season.
Coach Rich Tuero pulled Partyla midway through the third quarter for precautionary reasons with the Golden Bears leading 20-7.v“I shut him [Partyla] down because I knew we were going to MetLife,” Tuero said. “He wanted to go back in, but I didn’t trust it. It’s a team effort. It’s not just Piotr.”
Lyndhurst (11-0) secured its second ever state sectional title and ran its winning streak to 11 straight.
The Golden Bears will face Verona (11-0) next week at MetLife Stadium in a battle of unbeatens in the North, Group 2 Bowl Championship. The Hillbillies cruised past Lenape Valley 43-2 in the North 2 final also on Friday.
“This is crazy. You see our community here. You see everyone loves it. I say it every week. You can see it around us. I love it,” Partyla said. “I can’t describe this feeling. It’s something I’ve wanted since I was a kid. I knew this was going to be our senior year. Even though we made it last year to the final, this is special. This year it’s just something different among us. We bond differently. Since the offseason we worked for this and got closer as a team. Look where we are now. The whole season was planned for this.”
Partyla, who came into Friday’s game with a state leading 2,211 yards and 32 TDs, added to his total with two more rushing scores in the first and second quarters.
His first touchdown came with 4:35 left in the opening quarter on a 7 yard keeper playing out of the Wildcat offense to give the Golden Bears the early lead. Moments later Partyla found the end zone for a second time on an 18-yard sprint down the left sideline to put Lyndhurst up 14-0.
The multi-talented Partyla, who verbally committed to Northern Illinois this past summer, then flashed his passing game when he hit wide receiver John Rodriguez in the end zone from 34 yards out to give Lyndhurst a 20-0 lead with 5:44 remaining in the first half.
What it means
Lyndhurst is the state sectional champion for only the second time in school history. The Golden Bears defeated Newton, 28-16, in 1983 in the North 1 Group 2 championship.
Lyndhurst, who captured the NJIC title earlier this month with a 34-12 win over Park Ridge in the conference championship game, lost to Rutherford in last season’s state sectional final. This is the program’s third-straight playoff appearance.
The Golden Bears will attempt to close out a perfect season next weekend when they face Verona in the North, Group 2 title game. Lyndhurst’s only other perfect season was in 1983, the same year they won their first and only state sectional title.
Did you know
Since taking over the program in 2014, Tuero has slowly improved the Golden Bears and built a culture at the small Bergen County school. The team has gone from one win to four, to five, to nine and now 11.
Tuero, a Lyndhurst alumnus and former Montclair State University lineman, is the ninth head coach in Lyndhurst history.
Parsippany (10-2) closed out its first winning campaign since 1998. In the 15 seasons leading up to Friday’s final, the Red Hawks went 23-126, and snapped a 15-game losing streak last season. This was Parsippany’s second sectional final – the first was in 1977 when it fell to Phillipsburg in the North 2, Group 3 title game, 26-0.
By the numbers
► Lyndhurst senior quarterback Anthony Lembo rushed for 101 yards on 17 carries and 1 TD.
► Parsippany senior Nana Agyemang had the Red Hawks lone touchdown, an 80 yard kickoff return in the second quarter.
► Lyndhurst’s defense has allowed an average of just 8.5 points per game this season.
They said it
“When I took this job I was a young guy. There was a lot of doubters and also a lot of support. I took that and I used it. It was my grind every day. It’s about making a program. We created a program and a culture. I’m a Lyndhurst kid, born and raised. This is my town and my people. This means everything to me. There’s nothing more that I love than seeing my old coaches here. There’s nothing better. It’s a family. We knew when we lost last year in the state final that this was going to be our year. We had 27 seniors coming back. The grind started Jan. 3 and it didn’t stop. It was hard, hard every day since. We’re state champs and no one can take that away from us.” – Coach Rich Tuero.
