Thanksgiving week is here and the build up begins to the 129th meeting of Wellesley and Needham which again takes place Thursday Morning at Needham’s Memorial Field at 10 am. Stay tuned tomorrow and Wednesday as we preview both teams heading into the big game. First however here’s what you need to know about the rivalry heading into Thursday’s showdown!

Overall Series: 60-59-9 Wellesley
Current Streak: Needham (2) (7 out of 10)
Last Needham Win: 2015 (12-7)
Last Wellesley Win: 2013 (22-6)
Last 10 Games
2015: Needham 12 Wellesley 7
2014: Needham 27 Wellesley 13
2013: Wellesley 22 Needham 6
2012: Needham 39 Wellesley 21
2011: Needham 42 Wellesley 18
2010: Needham 20 Wellesley 17 (OT)
2009: Wellesley 28 Needham 27
2008: Needham 26 Wellesley 7
2007: Needham 20 Wellesley 14 (OT)
2006: Wellesley 14 Needham 6

We’ve reached one of the best times of the year… Thanksgiving!!! A time to spend with family friends, eat good food, and watch Thanksgiving Football! That’s right the time has come for two annual traditions, and the Wellesley-Needham powderpuff game, and of course the 129th meeting of the oldest high school football rivalry in the country Thanksgiving morning! Leading up to the game this week we will have all you need to know about the rivalry plus info on how this year’s team’s stack up so be on the lookout! That being said here is the schedule of events down below!

Wednesday 11-23
Powderpuff vs. Needham 1 pm

Thursday 11-24
Football @ Needham 10 am

It was a big, big day for the Cross Country program as both the boys and girls competed in the all-state meet in Grafton this afternoon, and one of the teams came home with some big time hardware. Who would it be, we’ll find out in a moment but first here’s the answer to yesterday’s Raider Friday Trivia question! The last time Wellesley football beat Needham in back to back years was… 2005 and 2006, as the Raiders knocked off the Rockets 14-7 and 14-6 respectively. Now onto the recap!

Results for 11-19-16
Boys Cross Country: Finished 1st in D1 All State Meet
Girls Cross Country: Finished 14th in D1 All State Meet

In this last season review we appropriately enough take a look at the team who will finish their least last, as we look at the 2016 Raider football team, who enjoyed tremendous success this season. The Raiders finished the regular season with a perfect 7-0 mark, and won their first Herget division title since 1999. The Raiders then went on to christen their new turf field with a first round playoff victory in the D1A South bracket over Hingham, before falling the next week in the semifinals to Bridgewater Raynham. The team rebounded to beat Brockton in a consolation game and heads into Thanksgiving with a 9-1 record.

It is a beautiful Friday morning and a perfect time for another edition of Raider Friday Trivia! With Thanksgiving and the Thanksgiving game being less than a week away today’s question is Thanksgiving themed. The question is… When was the last time Wellesley beat Needham in back to back years? The answer will be posted tomorrow!

On this second to last day of our fall sport season reviews, we take a look at Girls Swimming and Boys Golf, both of whom had another successful season in 2016. Girls Swimming finished 8-3 in the regular season and then took 4th place in the Bay State Championships, and 6th overall in the Sectional Meet. The girls still have one more meet to go and that is the state meet which is this Sunday at Harvard. Boys Golf meanwhile enjoyed a perfect regular season with a 17-0 record, winning the Bay State Conference. The team then went on to finish 3rd in the sectionals, and competed at the state finals match as well. Stay tuned tomorrow as we roll out our last season review, with a look at the football team!

This was a very successful 2016 campaign for both the Wellesley Boys and Girls Cross Country teams as both teams advanced all the way to the state meet that is actually taking place this weekend, but I wanted to take a look back at what this team accomplished during their very memorable fall season. The boys team finished a perfect 11-0 in the regular season and then won both the Bay State Conference Meet as well as the D2 Eastern Mass meet. The girls meanwhile finished their regular season 8-3, and then finished 3rd at the Bay State meet and 2nd at the D2 Eastern Mass meet. Good luck to both these teams this weekend, and check out the blog tomorrow for our Boys Golf and Girls Swimming reviews!

Today on day 2 of our fall season review, we take a look at Field Hockey and Girls Volleyball who both earned postseason berths during the 2016 campaign. The Field Hockey team earned a 10-2-4 regular season record good for second place in the Herget division, and earned themselves a home game as the 8th seed in the D1 South Bracket. The girls defeated Braintree in the first round at home before falling on the road to top seeded Dennis-Yarmouth in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile Girls Volleyball was just able to get into the tournament with a 10-10 overall record and a 5th place finish in the Herget. The girls pulled the road upset as the 10 seed knocking off 7th seeded North Middlesex in the first round before falling in the quarterfinals at 2nd seeded Acton-Boxborough. Stay tuned tomorrow as we will be taking a look at both the Boys and Girls Cross Country teams!

A big Wellesley Sports Blitz congratulations to PT Donato, son of Wellesley High Boys Hockey coach Paul Donato, who was recently named the head girls coach replacing George Campbell. Donato is a graduate of Babson College (13) where he played for the Beavers, interestingly enough along side former Raider Zeke Testa. After graduation Donato joined his dad’s staff for the Raider boys, coaching them up until last winter. Donato will inherit a team that has made the state finals at TD Garden the last 3 seasons, and fallen all 3 times including a 3-1 loss to Notre Dame Academy last season.

With Thanksgiving nearly upon us and the fall season pretty much at a close this week we will take a look back at the fall season starting today with both the Boy’s and Girl’s soccer teams. The boy’s finished up their regular season 6-6-4 good for third place in the Bay State Herget Division. That record landed the team the 14th seed in the D1 South bracket, where they went on to upset Silver Lake before falling 1-0 in overtime to archrival Needham in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile on the girls side it was a season of growing pains as the team finished 2-9-3 and in 5th place in the Herget. That being said the team gained a lot of experience and confidence which they can use to build towards what will hopefully be a very successful 2017 campaign. Stay tuned tomorrow as we will be looking back at Field Hockey and Girls Volleyball.