Rockets Rally Falls Just Short at Weymouth

October 24, 2025

• The Rockets were still looking for their first win of the season at the Wildcats, and made it interesting down the stretch. 

As the 2025 regular season winds down, Needham Varsity Football was still looking for its first win, visiting Weymouth on Friday night and despite falling just short, 22-17, the Rockets played their best game of the season against their Bay State Conference rivals.

Needham struggled with their offense most of the first half, with only three total drives and each of their first two going three and out. Weymouth, in their unique offense that never threw the ball and keeps opponents guessing as to who gets the snap, scored on each of their first two drives.

After Needham’s first three and out, the Wildcats went 15 plays for 57 yards taking up most of the first quarter, ending with a one yard touchdown run by Amahri Gomes early in the second. After another three and out for the Rockets, Weymouth did it again, this time going 81 yards in 13 plays with Tyler Mundbach breaking a 32 yard run for a touchdown. After a two point conversion, the Wildcats led 15-0.

With 2:51 left in the half, Needham finally got going on offense, with a nine play, 62 yard drive that culminated with a six yard TD strike from Tyler Langford to James Lalonde. It was the second TD reception of the season for Lalonde, who finished the game with four catches for 17 yards. Langford then connected with Caden McNamee for a two point conversion, making the score 15-8 Weymouth at halftime.

The Rockets shut down the Wildcats offense for the first time to start the third quarter, though each team traded a turnover on downs. Unfortunately for Needham, theirs came at the end of a 14 play, 41 yard drive that stalled at the Weymouth 16.

The Wildcats then took a 15 play, 84 yard drive deep into the fourth quarter, with Gomes scoring on a five yard TD run to put Weymouth back up by two scores, 22-8. The Rockets still had 5:21 to work with and Langford spearheaded a scoring drive in less than three minutes.

A nine play, 60 yard drive finished with a seven yard touchdown pass from Langford to McNamee and with the Colton Harjula extra point, Needham was back within one score with 2:45 to go. However, after failing on an onside kick attempt earlier in the game, Head Coach Doug Kopcso’s team tried it again and this time it was successful.

That gave the Rockets another chance to try and match the Wildcats, which they very nearly did with an 11 play drive that stalled on the four, when Langford threw an interception to Matt Baker that sealed the win for Weymouth, though Needham did get a safety at the end to pull within five points to end it.

For the game, Langford had his most impressive outing of the year, completing 19-of-29 passes for 126 yards and the two touchdowns. But the INT was his eighth thrown this season to along with 65 total completions on 126 attempts and six TDs.

McNamee finished with nine receptions for 73 yards and the TD, bringing his season total to 34 receptions for 318 receiving yards and four TDs. Lalonde has 21 receptions for 144 yards and two TDs.

After falling at home 21-14 to Braintree a week ago, the Rockets were guaranteed to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2022, as they needed at least three wins on the season and the loss to the Wamps dropped them to 0-6 with two games left.

Needham will finish the season on Thursday, October 30th at Memorial Field as they welcome in Framingham.

The Wildcats are gearing up toward a postseason run, winning their first five games before falling 19-6 at Brockton in their last game, October 10th. Weymouth had a bye last week and will close out their regular season at home on the 30th against Needham’s Thanksgiving Football rival, Wellesley.