Framingham Football Loses Home Game to Needham 33-14

Report by Akin Shah, photos by Akin Shah and Jigar Patel, and edited by Varun Tekur

Editor’s Note: All are members of the newly-created Framingham High Sports Writing Club. Framingham Patch has partnered with the Club to publish all the student reports.

The Framingham Varsity Football team lost a home game to the Needham Rockets 33-14 on Friday night at Bowditch Field.

In the beginning, it looked like Framingham was going to easily win the game after a 75-yard run by Junior Nate Martino on the first play of the game.

The crowd was cheering and ready for a blowout. Needham responded quickly with a 30-yard touchdown run, but Framingham still led 7-6 after a missed extra point.

With 2 minutes left in the 1st quarter, Framingham tried to convert a 4th and 4 from the Needham 33 yd line. Nate Martino’s pass was intercepted by Needham and Framingham’s chance of extending the lead was over.

Once again, Needham marched down the field through penalties and runs to take the lead 12-7 after they missed a 2 point conversion.

Framingham could not dominate with their passing game, led by QB Nate Martino, or running game, led by Senior Fred Pappas. They had to settle for 2 punts by Sophomore Nick Paget before the half was over. In his final home game, Senior Marc Umumbu made many tackles behind the line of scrimmage, trying to disrupt Needham’s offense and give the ball back to Framingham. However, with 3 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, Needham scored a touchdown on an 11 yd pass to extend their lead to 19-7.

Framingham came out firing on all cylinders after halftime. On the 4th play of the 2nd half, Junior Chigoize Nna blocked Needham’s punt and it was Framingham’s ball at the Needham 19 with 9 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter. In less than 2 minutes, Nate Martino completed a 6 yd touchdown pass to Junior Damari Yarrell to cut down the Needham lead to 5 points.

Framingham’s defense came through again, when a group of players forced a fumble from the Needham running back and recovered the ball at the Needham 40 with 7 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter. However, they couldn’t get a 1st down and punted the ball to Needham. On the last play of the 3rd quarter, Needham missed a 25 yd field goal which left the score at Framingham 14 - Needham 19 with a quarter left to play.

Framingham had a chance to take the lead, but Needham blocked a punt by Framingham and they recovered it in the end zone to give Needham a 26-14 lead.

With 8 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, Framingham had no choice but to go for it on 4th down and 5 from the Needham 21. Unfortunately, the pass was incomplete and Needham quickly scored a touchdown on a 20 yd run with 5 minutes remaining.

Framingham still tried to win, even though the odds were unlikely. Nate Martino and Senior Taye Campbell connected on a series of passes before Martino’s pass was intercepted by Needham 3:39 remaining in the game.

Coach Gary Doherty put many of his backups in the game during the final minutes for Framingham, with Nick Paget leading the offense and other underclassmen starting on defense.

With the loss, Framingham falls to 1-5.