NEEDHAM – In 2023, Needham came out of nowhere to make a run at the Division 1 Final Four.

In 2024, the Rockets were no longer flying under the radar, but it hasn’t mattered. The target on their collective back grew each week, but Doug Kopcso’s team has answered each challenge.

On Friday night, the now 10-0 fourth-seeded Rockets dominated the line of scrimmage, got three rushing touchdowns from Aidan Williams and a strong performance from kicker Alex Rufo en route to a 31-7 blowout win against No. 5 Central Catholic.

The Rockets lost to Xaverian in last year’s Final Four, but now have another shot at redemption against top-seeded St. John’s Prep in the state semifinals next weekend (Day/Time/Location TBD). CC dropped to 6-4 with Thanksgiving Day still on tap.

“Obviously, this year we weren’t sneaking up on anyone,” said Williams. “We were getting everyone’s best week in and week out, especially some of those games where maybe we weren’t thinking of it as big of a game, those teams were giving us their best.

“It’s really just helped us get better each week and obviously, going into the playoffs knowing the experience we had last year, taking that into this year, I think has been very influential.”

This was a defensive slugfest for a quarter with both teams punting twice, scoreless. Central Catholic’s third drive of the game began with 3:27 left in the first and ended 11 plays later with 9:09 left in the second with a five-yard touchdown run by Drew Alsup.

That lead didn’t lats long though.

On the very first offensive snap for Needham following the kickoff, Williams ripped off a long run out of the Wildcat down to the Raiders’ 22. Three plays later, he rumbled in from six yards out with Rufo adding the PAT to make it 7-7. The Rockets’ defense forced a punt and the offense went back out at its own 48 with 3:18 left in the half.

A big 3rd-&-3 conversion from Griffin Carr to Joe Kajunski kept the drive going at the CC 46. Another conversion on 3rd-&-8 picked up by Kajunski with 36 seconds left pushed the Rockets to the Raiders’ 30. Eventually, Rufo buried a 35-yard field goal to put Needham up 10-7 at the half.

Rufo’s story is an interesting one, considering he was playing soccer as of August, but decided to join the team when he found out he couldn’t play both. Now, he’s hoping to kick in college.

“It was a last second switch,” Rufo said of his decision to play football over soccer in the summer. “My brothers, they wanted to play football. My middle brother plays football, my older brother wanted to try it…I talked to a college coach who said ‘if you want to try and play college football…’ – that’s what I want to try and do – he said ‘you have to play football.’ I was just going to try and play on the side, you know?

“Two days before the season I go ‘alright, let’s just do it, whatever.’ I signed up for football…(another) really good reason why I joined the team is because this team was going to be so good and give me so many opportunities and have my back. I feel like I’ve mixed in well with these boys and it’s just been a great year.”

Needham pretty much put the game away with its first drive of the second half, but it took a little bit of work.

First, backed up inside the 20 facing 3rd-&-22, Carr hit Kajunski for a huge catch and run down to the CC 30. Then, on 4th-&-4 moments later, a botched field goal turned into a first down run for holder Brandt Bickford, who got a key block from Rufo on the play. A few snaps later, Williams plowed in from the two yard line to make it 17-7.

Needham forced a turnover on downs at its own 25 with 8:30 remaining and Williams ripped off a 21-yard touchdown run two plays later to officially seal the deal. Just for good measure, Ben Schreiber added a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown with just under seven minutes left.

Aside from a quick celebration with the large student section on hand after receiving the Final Four trophy, it was a subdued celebration for the Rockets.

Needham expected to be here this season and now, Kopcso’s squad has another shot to make it to Gillette for the Division 1 Super Bowl if it can knock off the big, bad Prep.

“I’m not used to it,” Kopcso said when asked how different this year has been as the hunted instead of the hunters. “I’m kind of the scrappy underdog. I’m short. I’m slow. My athletic career, I never had the type of pressure that these guys have. They love it. So, it’s been a great thing as a coach to kind of be around these dudes who are so mature, who are so charismatic, who are such great leaders. They love these moments. They wanted this. They talked about it in preseason. They talked about this goal. They’ve understood what was in front of them and they understood what they needed to do to get back here.

“It’s really just been a situation where they want the target on their back and they’ve done a great job responding to that pressure.”