By Meghan Foley
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
Last Thursday, the Needham Rockets went to Wellesley to take on the Raiders for their 138th annual Thanksgiving Day game. This tradition is remarkably the oldest public high school sports rivalry in the country. When I asked him how this game felt different to a regular season game, Rockets’ head coach Douglas Kopcso responded: “It’s always like a Super Bowl … There’s nothing like the Needham-Wellesley game … the emotions are high, and, you know, you get your whole town out, it’s just- it’s an unbelievable experience.”
Since their first matchup in 1882, Wellesley has now won 67 games while Needham has won 62, and the two have tied 9 times. Although the Rockets came out on top the last two times, the Raiders were favored to win this game with a 5–4 regular season record to the Rockets’ 3–7. Following their undefeated season last Fall, the Rockets had a tough year, losing their first seven games, but were victorious in their final three. Coach Kopcso explained: “Last year we broke all these records—last two years we’ve broken the school record for, you know, wins and losses. But this team was different. It wasn‘t about that. I mean, we coulda packed it in at 0 and 7, and this team fought and scrapped week in and week out until they finally broke through with their first win, and then they added to it and added to it.” Senior Colin Mancino also attributed their end-of-season success to persistence, saying, “It didn’t matter, like, how many losses we had, we were still spirited at practice, we still wanted to come every day, and we still showed up.”
The Raiders took an early lead in the game, but in the final minutes of the half, James Lalonde caught a pass from Tyler Langford and ran it to the one-yard line before being tackled by two Wellesley players. The ball was snapped to Owen Gonzalez, who was able to make it through the crowd, bringing the Rockets the closest they got to the Raiders, at 6–7, as their field goal attempt was blocked by the Wellesley defense. However, after the Raiders squeezed one more touchdown in before the end of the half, the Rockets were able to thwart their two-point conversion attempt when Matthew Mullaney and Parker Amodeo made a joint tackle.
At half time, Wellesley and then Needham’s dance and cheer teams performed, then, as the defending champions, Needham students ran the field with the trophy to show it off to the crowd.
Leading 13–6, the Wellesley Raiders kicked off to the Rockets for the second half and would earn another seven points in the third quarter, bringing the score to 20–6, which is where it remained, earning the Raiders the trophy.
Something I like to ask coaches to do is to highlight a strong point of their team’s game and something they need to work on going forward. Coach Kopcso answered: “I would say our strength is our character, our resilience, our toughness … our guys are classy kids, they’re leaders, they have great sportsmanship, they really are just a tremendous group of kids. So that would be our positive, and what do we have to work on? I think just, I hope these younger guys were paying attention this year, and learning how to operate on and off the field from our seniors, because I think that’ll be the test of how we do going forward.”
Speaking about the persistence of his team in this particular game, Coach Kopcso said: “It was fourth quarter, we had every reason to pack it in, down 14, but they fought and they scrapped until that final whistle. It’s just, I’ve never been around a team like that, that even under such great adversity, they continue to fight, they continue to work with each other, I’m so proud of the effort they put forward.”
As a senior, this was Mancino’s final game with the team, and he reflected: “This is one of the nicest and most resilient teams I’ve ever been around in any sport, and you know, I love each and every one of the players on this team, I’m gonna miss ‘em forever.”
Next year, the Rockets will host the 139th matchup and try to win back the title.
