Needham Ends Eighteen Year Drought At Walpole

October 4, 2024

• The Rockets started and ended strong against the Timberwolves to stay perfect on the season.

This year’s Needham Rockets Football team has rolled in every game they’ve played, both home and away. But on Friday night, they entered a place that’s been a House of Horrors the last eighteen years: Turco Field in Walpole. The Timberwolves entered with an unimpressive 1-3 record, but like the Thanksgiving rivalry with Wellesley, you could throw out the records here as Needham had to fight hard to beat Walpole, 21-10.

The Rockets started off strong, going 80 yards on their first drive, with QB Griffin Carr completing all four of his passes for 49 yards, two to Joe Kajunski and two to Caden McNamee. Stephen Rocamboli finished the drive with a one yard touchdown run and with 3:47 left in the first quarter, Needham took a 7-0 lead.

But then the magic of Walpole’s home field worked in favor of the Timberwolves, as QB Noah MacKenzie led his team down the field and in the second quarter completed seven straight passes, the last to Matt St. Cyr for a 16 yard TD. With 7:09 left in the quarter it was a tie game.

The Rockets would also be hit by the turnover bug, as Carr would throw two interceptions, one late in the half. Walpole followed that with a 50 yard completion from MacKenzie to Cash Cantrell to set up a 28 yard field goal by Mateo Fillipi and for the first time this season, Needham would trail, down 10-7 at the half.

In the third quarter, the Rockets continued to struggle on offense, but got a big lift on special teams when Alex Rufo’s punt nearly sailed into the end zone. But a heads up play by the Rockets saved it and Walpole had to go from their own one yard line.

The Timberwolves would get to the Needham 43, but the Rockets defense put the clamps on, forcing Walpole to punt into the end zone. That’s when Mr. Momentum shifted in favor of Needham.

On their first offensive play, the Rockets called on Aidan Williams, and the senior delivered, turning on his proverbial Rockets, busting to the outside and outrunning every Walpole defender en route to an 80 yard touchdown run. It was the biggest play of the year for Needham, not only in total yardage, but also because they took the lead back, as well as control of the game.

Walpole would answer with a fantastic kickoff return that added 15 extra yards after a horse collar tackle that set up the T’Wolves at the Needham 33. At the end of the third quarter it was 14-10, but Needham answered with their first takeaway of the game, an interception by Kajunski at the Rockets 2 yard line.

A drive of 5:42 would yield another touchdown for Williams, this time a four yarder with 4:24 remaining, put the Rockets up by double digits, 21-10. After gaining 80 yards on the ground in the first half, Needham added 151 more in the second half, to finish with 231. Williams had 20 carries for 187 yards and his two TDs. Carr added 69 yards through the air, 50 of which on three completions to Kajunski for 50 yards, giving Needham an even 300 yards of total offense.

With time decidedly not on their side, Walpole attempted to stay in the game, as MacKenzie threw four more completions, for 52 yards. But a pair of bat downs by Will McDonald, as well as another by Ben Schreiber on 4th down, sealed the win for Needham, who kept their perfect record intact at 5-0. Walpole dropped to 1-4.

On the game, MacKenzie, one of Walpole’s senior captains, was 22-of-37 for 185 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Cantrell had 8 receptions for 139 yards, while St. Cyr added 5 more for 61 yards and his TD.

But this night was about Needham’s ability to come back in the face of adversity, and even the mystique of their woes at Turco Field. The last time they won here was September 8, 2006, a defensive struggle that finished with a 7-0 Rockets win. It would take eighteen years, but they finally got it done again.

The Rockets now have a week off before hitting the road again on October 18th, where they will head to Braintree. Their next home game at Memorial Field is October 25th at 6:30pm against Weymouth, then close out the regular season with a game at Framingham November 1st. Walpole will hit the road for their last three games, at Milton, Braintree and Wachusett.

Mike Levin has the full highlights, in this week’s edition of “Rockets Roundup:” The Needham Channel is your home for Needham Rockets Varsity Football and you can watch every game, home and away on The Needham Channel’s HD, Community and Education Channels, as well as streaming on needhamchannel.org and our Roku app. The last regular season home game, October 25th against Weymouth will 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.