Wamps Deny Needham First Victory

October 17, 2025

• After falling to Newton North, the Rockets were still looking for their first win of the season. 

Needham Varsity Football played its senior night on Friday, with Bay State Conference rival Braintree visiting Memorial Field. After starting the season 0-5, the Rockets hoped to finally pick up their first win of 2025 against the Wamps, but it wasn’t in the cards, as Braintree won 21-14.

It was Needham’s second straight week taking a lead and failing to keep it until the end, though the two teams were tied much of the game. Like their game at Newton North eight days earlier, the Rockets rode an impressive rushing attack on a long first drive to score.

This time it was an 11 play, 96 yard drive that started at their own four yard line. The longest play of the drive was a 57 yard run by Joey Saratella that got Needham to the Braintree 12. A few plays later, Owen Gonzalez scored on a five yard touchdown run.

The Wamps answered with a 9 play, 51 yard drive, with a 14 yard TD run by Nick Saunders coming at the very end of the first quarter. They would then get the ball back on an interception thrown by Needham QB Tyler Langford, then score a few plays later on a 27 yard pass from Gavin Farragher to Gavin O’Dougherty. It was a controversial play, because O’Dougherty dropped the ball, but it was decided he had possession long enough to rule it a TD.

Needham would answer by marching down the field on a 5 play, 63 yard drive and Saratella scoring on a 24 yard TD run. The Senior Running Back rushed eleven times for 116 yards, while Gonzalez added nine carries for 65 yards. The Rockets had 181 yards on the ground, 235 total.

But Braintree also had a big game rushing the ball, picking up 156 yards, as well as 89 passing to finish with 245 for the game. Saunders led the way with nine carries for 83 yards, including a second touchdown in the 4th quarter that proved to be the difference, a 33 yarder with 1:56 left.

Needham had time to attempt one last drive and made it all the way to the Wamps six, but fell short at the end. The Rockets fell to 0-6 on the season, while Braintree, fresh off their first win over Durfee a week ago, rode their two game win streak to a record of 2-4.

Up next for Needham is a road game at Weymouth on Friday, October 24th at 7 p.m., followed by the regular season finale on Thursday night, October 30th at 6:30 p.m. against Framingham at Memorial Field. Braintree will play their last two regular season games on the road, October 24th at Walpole and the 31st at Newton North.

The Oldest Public High School Football Rivalry in the Country pitting Needham against Wellesley every Thanksgiving morning will take place on Thursday, November 27th at 10 a.m. from Hunnewell Field in Wellesley. The Needham Channel is your official source for the Needham-Wellesley Thanksgiving Football Game, so be sure to head to needhamchannel.org and click “Thanksgiving Football” under the “Also Online” tab on the site’s main header.

For highlights of The Needham Channel’s upcoming broadcast of Braintree at Needham, click the video below, courtesy of our TNC Instagram feed:

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