Needham Football Stumbles in Opener at Milton

September 5, 2024

• The Rockets last two regular season defeats have both come at the hands of the Wildcats.

The Needham Rockets Varsity Football Team opened their 2025 season with lofty expectations, having made the State Semifinals in 2023, then returned to the MIAA Division 1 State Title Game for the first time since 2011 last season, the epic Fall of 2024. On Friday night, the Rockets played a close game at Milton in the first half, but in the second the Wildcats ran away with a 46-12 victory.

Coming off an incredible run a year ago, in which 28 seniors graduated, 20 of whom started for Head Coach Doug Kopcso’s team, a lot of new faces would be playing key positions, including Senior Tyler Langford, the team’s new starting Quarterback. Against Milton, Langford threw it often, finding Caden McNamee on a TD, as well as rushing for a short score.

But Langford also threw three interceptions, which Milton took full advantage of, mainly thanks to a potent offense featuring Senior Captain Ronan Sammon. With 119 receptions for 1,600 yards and 19 touchdowns heading into this game, Sammon is one of the big players to watch not only in the Bay State Conference, but in all of Massachusetts.

On Friday night, the Wildcats took advantage of Langford’s first pick around the Milton 20 yard line, marching 80 yards down the field and scoring on a 21 yard touchdown run by Peter Skutrik. The extra point missed, however, so Milton’s lead was 6-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Needham showed their resiliency, however, finishing an 80 yard drive of their own with a short TD run by Langford that tied it at 6 in the second quarter. But then Sammon struck for his first TD of 2025, on a pass by QB Patrick Collins, good for 67 yards and a 13-6 Wildcat lead. The Rockets closed out the first half strong, with a two minute drill that ended on a short TD pass by Langford to McNamee with no time left on the clock.

Leading 13-12 at halftime, Milton wasted little time getting their offense going in the third quarter, as Patrick Mason caught a 38 yard TD pass from Collins to make it 20-12. After Needham turned it over on downs, Milton scored again on a short TD run by Skutrik, his second of the game.

Still in the third quarter, Sammon would score again, another 67 yard TD reception from Collins, giving the Wildcats a 34-12 lead. Then Sammon struck on defense, intercepting a Langford pass and all but sealing the win for Milton, who finished with over 400 yards of total offense. Sammon finished with 157 yards on four receptions and his two scores. Skutrik would add a third touchdown as well for the Wildcats.

In 2024, Needham won all 12 of their regular season games a year ago, including a 24-0 shutout by the Rockets at home against Milton. At 5-6, the Wildcats finished the season sub .500 for the first time since 2014. This came on the heels of their Division III State Title in 2023, a season in which Needham lost just one regular season game, a 10-9 nail biter at Milton.

Meeting at Milton for the first time since that close finish, Needham came in ranked #10 in the Boston Globe’s Preseason Rankings, while Milton was right behind them, at #13.

The Rockets (0-1) will play their home opener next Friday, September 12th against Natick, with kickoff set for 6:30pm. Milton (1-0) will host Central that same night at 7pm.

The Needham Channel is your home for Needham Rockets Varsity Football and you can watch every game streaming on needhamchannel.org and our Roku app. This includes the Oldest Public High School Football Rivalry in the Country on Thanksgiving against Wellesley, which this year is November 27th at Hunnewell Field. We will also have stories from every game on Needham Local, as well as highlights posted to our Needham Channel YouTube page. You can also follow live game action via our X page at: x.com/tnc_sports.

TNC is also looking for volunteers who want to help out as crew and announcers for all of our game broadcasts this school year. 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 2025 Needham Fall Sports Season at: instagram.com/theneedhamchannel.