Needham Football Hangs On For Win At Natick

September 13, 2024

• The Rockets won their first game at Natick in years, once again led by defense.

One week after opening their 2024 season with a win against the only team to beat them in the regular season last year, Needham Football traveled to Natick to try and make it two straight years of beating the Redhawks. Natick kept it close until the end, but the Rockets still managed to take control and win, 20-7 against their Bay State Conference rivals.

Neither team scored in the first quarter, though Needham had a long drive that nearly result in a touchdown. However, the ball came loose on Griffin Carr’s QB dive from the half yard line and the Redhawks recovered, giving them a touchback.

Turnovers would be plentiful in this game, as the Rockets would force one of their own and Charlie Ciancolo recover at the Needham 45, but they couldn’t take advantage and would be forced to punt. That punt was downed at the Natick 6, so the Redhawks were back up deep.

Needham’s defense came up with another big play when J.C. Andrade recovered a fumble at the Natick 26. It didn’t take Needham’s offense long to take advantage, as Brandt Bickford picked up 19 yards on an end around and then Stephen Rocamboli would take it in the rest of the way, on a 17 yard TD run. Alex Rufo added an extra point to give the Rockets a 7-0 lead.

Rocamboli would do it again, this time on defense, intercepting Natick Quarterback Jesse Gagliardi and taking it back 31 yards on the return for his second TD of the game. The Rockets had another opportunity before halftime, as the Redhawks muffed a punt, giving Needham the ball at the Natick 38 with 1:27 to go in the half.

Griffin Carr connected with Ben Schreiber on a 29 yard completion at the 9, but Carr would be picked off, ending the second quarter with the Rockets lead still 14-0. Needham had the rushing advantage at the time, with 84 yards, to Natick’s 81.

Natick would intercept another pass by Carr with less than two minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. But they couldn’t take advantage on offense, so the score stayed 14-0 heading to the 4th. However, the Redhawks rushing attack was slowly building momentum, until the Needham defense held Natick on a 4th down from the Rockets 11 yard line.

Natick would finally break through late in the game, with 2:08 to go, on an 18 yard TD pass from Gagliardi to James Perrier. The Rockets would recover an onside kick at the Natick 48 and that was the cue for Aidan Williams to hit the jets, rumbling those 48 yards on Needham’s first play of the drive for a touchdown that put the game out of reach.

Still, Natick drove down the field until Schreiber put the nail in the coffin of the victory for the Rockets, intercepting a pass by Gagliardi. With two fumble recoveries and two interceptions, Needham had four takeaways, to Natick’s three (two INT’s and a fumble recovery).

The Redhawks ultimately had more yards from scrimmage, with 275 total, 204 rushing and 71 receiving. Sam Hubbard had 16 rushes for 78 yards, Jack Showstead had 10 for 53, and Gagliardi rushed ten times for 73 yards, to go along with his six completions on 15 attempts.

Needham finished with 198 total yards, 156 on the ground. Williams led the way with 14 rushes for 100 yards and the TD. Rocamboli had five for 33 and a TD, as well as his pick 6. Seven Rockets would carry the ball. Carr was 4-for-8 through the air, for 42 yards.

Needham (2-0) will next head to non-league foe Lincoln-Sudbury, next Friday night, September 20th, before returning home to host Newton North on September 27th. Natick (1-1) will hit the road to face Walpole on September 20th.

We will be debuting our broadcast of this game on Monday, September 16th at 7pm on our Community and HD Channels, as well as our live stream here at needhamchannel.org and our Roku app, but until then, here are some of the raw highlights, from our recording of the broadcast:

 

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As a reminder, The Needham Channel is your home for Needham Rockets Varsity Football and you can watch every game, home and away on our HD, Community and Education Channels, as well as streaming here on needhamchannel.org and our Roku app. The remaining two regular season home games, September 27th against Newton North and October 25th against Weymouth, will also be carried live on-air and online, with the road games to be recorded and debuting Monday nights. We will also have game stories from every game on Needham Local, as well as highlights posted to our Needham Channel YouTube page on Mondays. You can also follow live game action via our X page at: x.com/tnc_sports.

TNC is looking for volunteers who want to help out as crew and announcers for all of our game broadcasts this fall. If you love sports or know someone on a team, send an email to TNC Programming Manager Mike Levin at: mlevin@needhamchannel.org.

Be sure to check out the TNC Instagram page, for all of our content from the 2024 Needham Football season, as well as other Fall Sports at: instagram.com/theneedhamchannel.