Rockets Roll to 3rd Win of the Season
September 20, 2024
• A big 1st quarter set the tone for Needham Football’s dominant win over Lincoln Sudbury.
Last year, Needham football squeezed out a single point victory over Lincoln Sudbury, proving to doubters they were a team to look out for. This time, there was no question they were.
It was another big game on the ground, as the Warriors had no answer to Needham’s rushing attack. We saw it early on, as sophomore Antione Lewis opened up the scoring with a 32 yard TD run on Needham’s first offensive drive.
The Needham defense would do their job, forcing a punt and giving their offense a short field for most of the game. With 1:40 to go in the 1st quarter, Senior QB Griffin Car would find fellow Senior captain Joe Kajunski wide open in the end zone for the 22 yard touchdown, taking an early 14-0 lead.
That wouldn’t be the end of the 1st quarter. It would be a tough night for Warriors QB Sean Landry, with 17 seconds left in the 1st he’d be met by Will McDonald – a QB’s worst nightmare – who’d poke the ball lose. Aidan Williams would scoop it up and run it in for another 6, and the Rockets would lead it 21-0 after just one quarter.
Williams, who everyone knows is one of the top runners in the state, would be a star on the other side of the ball in this one. He followed up his recovered fumble with an interception, picking off Landry with 7:43 to play in the half and taking it down to the LS 35. That would set up an easy touchdown run from Stephen Rocamboli, but after a blocked XP Needham would head into the half up 27-0.
The Rockets would start the 3rd with the ball, and they would keep on rolling. On 1st down at the Needham 42, Carr rolls out and flings a long ball to Brandt Bickford, who makes the grab and has a clear path to the end zone for the 5th Needham touchdown by the 5th different player.
LS would however get on the board late in the 3rd quarter, with Landry finding Stavaughn Harris for a 4 yard touchdown, which came on 4th and goal.
Needham however would use the clock to their advantage and end this one quickly, taking the win 34-8 over Lincoln Sudbury. The Rockets totaled 133 rushing hards, with Lewis leading the way with 63 yards on 11 carries and a TD. Carr had his best night in the air, throwing for 78 yards on 4/7 passing with a TD, adding in 8 rushing yards.
Needham stays unbeaten at 3-0, and will return home on Friday, the 27th when they take on Newton North at Memorial Field, kickoff set for 6:30pm. The Needham Channel will be there, so you can catch that game live on needhamchannel.org.
Here are a few of the top plays from the night:
5 touchdowns with 5 different players…that's the story in Needham's big 34-8 win over LS! Check out some of the top plays of the night – full game highlights will come this Monday! @NHSRockets @NeedhamFootball pic.twitter.com/Tu24uH8AaH
— TNC Sports (@TNC_Sports) September 21, 2024
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.
