Junior Rockets tussle with Rebels

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Needham hosted Walpole for week six and it unfortunately didn’t go the Rockets’ way. All four competitive divisions fell to the Rebels. For week seven, Needham will travel to Wellesley for a full line of matchups with its longtime rival.

A Squad – Walpole 13, Needham 12– A squad (1-4) lost a tight game on Saturday. The Jr. Rockets turned the ball over three times in the first half but still had the lead heading into the break at 6-0. In the second half, Needham scored again on a pass to Edgar Vazquez, but a missed extra point left the Jr. Rockets still down a point.

In an exciting finish, on Needham’s final possession with a minute to play from their own 20-yard line, the Jr. Rockets completed a sixty-yard pass play to Ryan Hannigan that nearly went for a last minute score. However, the Jr. Rockets ran out of time on the final drive.

B Squad – Walpole 28, Needham 6– Coming off its huge win against Milton, the expectations were high for B Squad (3-3) on Saturday, but unfortunately, Walpole brought them down to Earth. Walpole’s powerful offense put up two touchdowns against Needham in the first five minutes of play and never looked back. The defense led by Ben Chapman, Owen Scholz, Noah Patti, Josh Melia and Rafael Montero played hard, but there were too many breakdowns to stay with Walpole.

Tyler Closuit had three big kick returns of 20-plus yards giving Needham good field position and scored a fourth quarter touchdown. Montero, Colin Sullivan and Daniel Altshuler had some hard running between the tackles. The offensive line stood stout against the Walpole defensive line, but mistakes did the seven grade offense in, as penalties and missed assignments killed good drives and scoring opportunities.

C Squad – Walpole 28, Needham 0 – C Squad (1-5) played a spirited game against Walpole but had trouble putting the ball in the end zone. The defense shut down the Walpole passing game, highlighted by Tate Hoffmeister's interception and sacks by Gabe McCarthy and Sean Murphy. But, the Needham defense was consistently gashed by big runs. On offense, Needham had success moving the ball with runs by Jase Hannigan, Spencer Chapman, Tate Hoffmeister, Mike Hegarty, Cam Schreiber, George Addona and Josh Morant but didn't come away with points. 

E2 Squad vs. Walpole - The E2 team led by Matthew Mullaney and Rory Funke’s touchdowns overcame adversity to continue their torrid pace. Mullaney came in to take over at quarterback to help Needham hold on and Will Young’s hard running killed the clock out to end the game. Center Grayden Loeb helped keep the offense steady. Robert Mahar, Jacob Donis and Sam Drayer shored up the line to give the quarterbacks time. Kicker Giovanni Virgilio was perfect on the day.

The defense was stout, led by Colin Corbett, Dash Mezdez, Nicholas Hebert, Joza Wang, JT Ciccione, and Cedric Steele. A key fourth down stop to give the Needham offense the ball to end the game was the unit’s highlight of the afternoon.

Note that scores are not kept for the E1 and E2 instructional levels of AYF Football.