Rockets Defense Stifles Milton In Opener

September 6, 2024
• Needham got some measure of revenge from their only regular season loss last year.

The Needham Football team opened the 2024 season on Friday night under the lights at Memorial Field against Milton, not only the lone team to beat the Rockets in the regular season last year, but also the Division 3 State Champions. The Wildcats beat the Rockets 10-9 a year ago in Milton, but this time around, Needham’s defense helped jump start the offense en route to a 24-0 shutout of the Wildcats.

The first big play for Needham’s defense was a strip by Will McDonald on Milton Quarterback Patrick Collins, with McDonald recovering the fumble at the Wildcat 25 yard line. A few plays later, Aidan Williams, one of the team’s primary runners, scored the first TD of 2024. Alex Rufo then kicked his first extra point to give the Rockets a 7-0 lead not quite halfway through the first quarter.

After a Milton punt gave Needham good field position at the Wildcat 46 yard line, the Rockets offense responded with another score by Williams, this time from 13 yards out with just 13 seconds left in the first. In the second quarter, McDonald blocked a Milton punt deep in their territory. Alex Rutley recovered at the 7 yard line and a few plays later, Williams scored his third TD of the game, from 2 yards out.

Rufo, a former soccer player, hit all three of his extra point attempts, as well as a 46 yard field goal with five minutes to go in the half. Needham’s 24-0 halftime lead would end up carrying them through the rest of the game, though Milton did threaten a few times in the fourth quarter. On one of those attempts, the Rockets stonewalled the Wildcats on a 4th and 3 from the eight yard line.

For the game, Needham’s defense had five sacks, two fumble recoveries and a blocked punt. Not counting Milton’s final drive, when they strung together some long offensive plays, the Rockets defense held the Wildcats to just 68 yards of offense and 19 on the ground.

Needham’s offense didn’t put up particularly impressive numbers until the fourth quarter, as Jack Dufort and Antoine Lewis each had some big carries. But for the game, Needham finished with 131 rushing yards, with Williams leading the way with 8 carries for 47 yards and his three scores. Rockets QB Griffin Carr was 5-of-11 for 38 yards, 32 of them on three completions to Brandt Bickford.

The final offensive total for Needham was 169 yards from scrimmage. The shutout win was meaningful, as it’s been a few years since Needham pitched one against an opponent. Even last year, when they were regularly blowing out the opposition, the least they let up was six points.

The Rockets will hit the road for the next two weeks, with next Friday, September 13th, at Natick, who are 1-0 after a 35-6 win over Newton North. On September 20th, Needham will head to non-conference foe Lincoln-Sudbury, who lost their opener 42-14 against Methuen. The next home game, the second of just three at Memorial Park this fall, is September 27th against Newton North.

You can see the rebroadcast of the Milton game throughout the weekend on The Needham Channel and on-demand at needhamchannel.org starting Monday, September 9th.

For highlights from both Football, as well as Boys Soccer’s opening game win over Brookline, check out our “Rockets Roundup,” from our YouTube Channel:

As a reminder, 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 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 here 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.