Amari Teixeira and Taunton host Needham chasing their first winning streak of the season

TAUNTON Amari Teixeira and Taunton host Needham on Friday night looking for something the Tigers have not managed all fall, back-to-back wins, and they come in off a shutout at Braintree.

Taunton (4-5) and Needham (2-7) kick off at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, at the Taunton High football field, 50 Williams St., in a nonleague game. Both play in Division 1, neither made the 16-team Division 1 tournament, and each won its last game, Taunton 14-0 at Braintree on Nov. 5 and Needham 27-6 over Brookline at home on Nov. 6.

The Tigers have traded wins and losses most of the season, and their results read loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, loss and win. A victory Friday would even their record at 5-5 before the Thanksgiving eve game against Milford.

Teixeira carries the Tigers

Teixeira, a senior who wears No. 6, is the back Taunton turns to when it needs yards. At Stoughton on Oct. 16 he scored all three Tigers touchdowns in the 21-8 win, going over the right side from 3 yards out with 22 seconds left in the first half, bouncing off two tackles on a 26-yard run at the 5:14 mark of the third quarter and cutting back for a 17-yard score with 9:09 to play that made it 20-0 before the extra point.

A week later at Attleboro, junior Luis Sanchez (No. 22) started at running back, with Teixeira coming off the bench. After a turnover gave Taunton the ball at the Attleboro 13, Teixeira carried on three straight plays, the last a toss to the left on which he broke a tackle and dove in from 5 yards out behind senior guard Wade Teixeira (No. 74) and junior tight end Shyheim Middleton (No. 21). That touchdown and the extra point gave the Tigers the 10-7 lead they took into halftime.

Senior kicker Alex Ozcan (No. 29) made two 34-yard field goals in that game, the first set up when senior linebacker Gavin Wetherell (No. 44) intercepted a pass on Attleboro's opening drive. Senior quarterback Evan Kane (No. 16) later finished a 12-play, 71-yard drive with a 6-yard sneak, and Ozcan's extra point tied the game at 20 before Attleboro won 27-20.

Against Franklin on Oct. 30, the Tigers fell behind 21-0 and then scored the last 12 points of a 21-12 loss to the No. 8 seed in the Division 1 tournament. Kane floated a touchdown pass to senior receiver Michael Braxton III (No. 10) with 34 seconds left in the first half and threw another with 34 seconds left in the third quarter to finish a drive of about 70 yards, but the first extra point was blocked and a two-point try failed after the second. Junior James Ryan (No. 49) sacked the Franklin quarterback in the first half, and the Tigers intercepted a pass with four minutes to play.

The defense comes in off its first shutout of the season and has allowed 20.2 points a game against a schedule with three Division 1 tournament teams, Franklin, No. 15 seed Brockton and No. 16 seed Weymouth. Junior Jeremy Rhoden (No. 24) and Wetherell are listed at middle linebacker on the Tigers' MaxPreps roster, Middleton doubles at outside linebacker, and seniors Elias Colon (No. 69) and Matheus Batista (No. 59) work the defensive front for head coach Brad Sidwell.

Needham's season

Needham opened 0-5 against Natick, Lincoln-Sudbury, St. John's Prep, the top seed in Division 1, Walpole and Milton, then won 21-7 at Braintree on Oct. 16 for its first victory. Preston Pinckney, a sophomore running back, ran for 173 yards that night and for 86 yards and two touchdowns at Framingham on Oct. 30, The Needham Channel reported.

Against Weymouth on Oct. 23, Pinckney's touchdown run tied the game at 7. Quarterback Jack Ringer left the game in the second quarter, and sophomore Liam West (No. 10) took over and found junior receiver Schandler Appolon late in the half. Senior Jayden Greenfield (No. 4) blocked a punt in the third quarter to give the Rockets the ball at the Weymouth 1, and West scored on a sneak and ran in the two-point conversion in a 33-15 loss.

West played quarterback at Framingham a week later. He hit a wide-open Mason Hark for a 24-yard touchdown that tied the game at 7, then found Greenfield deep to set up Pinckney's 5-yard touchdown run before halftime. Greenfield intercepted a pass early in the third quarter, and Pinckney followed with a 50-yard run up the middle on third-and-8 that put Needham ahead 20-19 before Framingham scored the last two touchdowns and won 33-20.

The Rockets then beat Brookline 27-6 on Nov. 6, their highest-scoring game of the fall. Seniors Diego Vaccaro (No. 81) and Will Cassidy (No. 77) play on the defensive line and junior Dash Mendez (No. 51) at middle linebacker on Needham's MaxPreps roster.

Coach Doug Kopcso, a 1999 Needham graduate who played linebacker for the Rockets, led Needham to a 12-1 record and the Division 1 state final in 2024, and the New England Patriots named him their Coach of the Year that December.

Side by side

Taunton and Needham, side by side (results through Nov. 6)

	Taunton	Needham
Record	4-5	2-7
League	1-2, Hockomock Kelley-Rex	1-3, Bay State Herget
Nonleague	3-3	1-4
Home and road	1-2 at home, 3-3 on the road	1-3 at home, 1-4 on the road
Points scored and allowed	162 and 182	115 and 260
Per game	18.0 scored, 20.2 allowed	12.8 scored, 28.9 allowed
Last game	Won 14-0 at Braintree, Nov. 5	Won 27-6 over Brookline, Nov. 6
Against Weymouth	Lost 31-29 on the road, Sept. 11	Lost 33-15 at home, Oct. 23
Against Braintree	Won 14-0 on the road, Nov. 5	Won 21-7 on the road, Oct. 16
Quarterback	Evan Kane, No. 16, senior	Liam West, No. 10, sophomore (QB at Framingham)
Lead back	Amari Teixeira, No. 6, senior	Preston Pinckney, sophomore
MaxPreps Division 1 rank	23rd	27th
Head coach	Brad Sidwell	Doug Kopcso
Next	Milford, Wed. Nov. 25, 6 p.m., at home	Wellesley, Thu. Nov. 26, 10 a.m., at home

Our read

Both teams have played Weymouth and Braintree, and those results lean Taunton's way. The Tigers lost at Weymouth by two points in the opener while Needham lost to the Wildcats by 18 at home, and both won at Braintree. Our read is that Taunton's best path is the one that worked at Stoughton, handing the ball to Teixeira behind Wade Teixeira and Middleton, with Ozcan's leg there to turn a stalled drive into points the way it did twice at Attleboro.

Needham's best hope looks like the first half and the start of the third quarter at Framingham, when West's throws to Hark and Greenfield and Pinckney's 50-yard run put the Rockets in front early in the third. The Rockets have scored 48 of their 115 points in their two wins and have allowed 28.9 a game, numbers that point to a long night of carries for Teixeira if the Tigers hold onto the ball.

Tickets, getting in and how to follow

General admission is $5 on GoFan, plus a $1.25 service fee, according to the event listing for Taunton Tigers vs. Needham Rockets at the Taunton High Football Field.

Under new game-day rules that Taunton Public Schools says take effect with Friday's game against Needham, fans are urged to buy tickets in advance, and anyone who cannot use the website can buy at the game with a photo ID. Every high school student, visitors included, needs a current school ID, children younger than high school age must come with an adult, with no drop-offs, and no bags or backpacks of any size are allowed. The road between the high school and the field entrance closes to cars at 5 p.m., and caregivers pick up high school students and band members in front of Parker Middle School after the game. Our earlier story has the traffic map and pickup details.

Taunton's athletics site points fans to the TauntonHighSchool HudlCamera channel on YouTube for its live streams, and South Coast 360 will have the final Friday night.

What comes next

Taunton closes its season at home on Wednesday, Nov. 25, at 6 p.m. against Hockomock League rival Milford, which went 7-1 and is the No. 2 seed in the Division 3 tournament, according to the MIAA bracket. Needham hosts Wellesley at 10 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 26.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.