WELLESLEY — Bobby Shanahan and Brandon Hollingsworth spent the last two Thanksgivings watching the Needham Rockets hoist the Frederick Gorman Centennial Trophy.

For their final game in Wellesley Raiders football uniforms, the senior co-captains wanted the trophy back.

Shanahan threw for two touchdowns and rushed for a third, and Hollingsworth led a strong defensive effort as Wellesley topped Needham 20-6 in the 138th annual Thanksgiving football showdown Thursday at Connor Darcey Memorial Field. Wellesley won for the first time since 2022 and leads the overall series 67-62-9 in the oldest public school rivalry in the country.

“It’s a big win for us,” said Wellesley head coach Jesse Davis. “A great crowd, a beautiful day. Turkey always tastes sweeter when you get a win on Thanksgiving.”

Shanahan needed less than three minutes to establish that this wouldn’t be another Rockets win, leading the Raiders 63 yards on seven plays. He finished the drive by breaking through a hole in the Needham defense and bursting 25 yards for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 9:35 left in the first quarter.

That lead held for the rest of the game, though Needham (3-8) never let Wellesley pull too far ahead. Senior quarterback Tyler Langford (12-for-27, 115 passing yards) led the Rockets on an 18-play drive that began late in the first quarter and chewed up most of the second, running to convert one fourth down and completing a pass to Jacob Heckman to convert a second.

Following an 18-yard pass to James Lalonde, fellow senior co-captain Owen Gonzalez ran in the 1-yard Needham touchdown with 1:27 left in the first half. But Hollingsworth broke into the backfield to block the extra point attempt, keeping Wellesley (6-5) in the lead.

“There was a gap there, so I took care of it,” said Hollingsworth, who finished with two sacks and an additional tackle-for-loss. “I’ve been playing for three years on the varsity, so winning at home senior year, there’s nothing like it.”

Shanahan didn’t mind getting the ball back with under 90 seconds left — the Raiders had practiced “tempo” offense throughout the season. Helped out by a Needham personal foul, he completed three 16-yard passes to help advance the ball to the Wellesley 6-yard line, then found senior co-captain Matthew Leibman for the touchdown and 13-6 lead with 10 seconds left until halftime.

“Every week doing it in practice, it paid off today,” Shanahan said. “This senior class, a lot of us played as sophomores. Knowing the physicality and the tradition and the rivalry, getting this one today was really sweet.”

Shanahan added a 2-yard touchdown strike to senior co-captain Tennyson Charney midway through the third quarter to go up 20-6. He finished 11-for-19 for 119 passing yards and two scores, plus 17 carries for 117 rushing yards and one score.

That’d be enough for Hollingsworth, Anton Sodervall and the rest of the defense, which didn’t give up a first down in the third quarter. Needham got as close as the Wellesley 14 in the fourth quarter, but the Raiders held on fourth down three times after halftime, and Charney ended the game with an interception.

“This is a very, very good team, who I thought went toe to toe with,” Needham coach Doug Kopsco said. “These seniors have nothing to be sorry about. They really came out and represented their town and their program so well.”