The Tri-Eastern Conference champion Hagerstown football team finalized its undefeated season by knocking down visiting Northeastern Friday, Oct. 16, in the regular season finale for both programs.
Northeastern won the Tri-Eastern Conference championship last season before making a decision to leave the TEC and join the Eastern Crossroads Conference. The Knights came to Hagerstown on Friday with two objectives in mind. No. 1: Defeat the Tigers to keep them from having an undefeated regular season. No. 2: To put themselves in a position to say that if they had not left the TEC they would have been the league champion.
The Tigers slammed the door on both Knight objectives by defeating Northeastern 19-8 to complete their first undefeated regular season since 2012 and 11th in program history.
The weather was not good to begin with and it deteriorated as the game progressed. The field became a muddy mess. Both teams had to change the plan of attack: less throwing, more running and try to hang on to the slippery football.
The Tigers won the pregame coin toss and deferred to the Knights. It did not take long for the Tigers to gain possession of the football. Trent Deloney broke free for a 62-yard touchdown run but it was called back because of a holding penalty on Northeastern.
On the next play from scrimmage Jarrett Leitner, under pressure from the Tiger defense, attempted a pass. Nick Tinkle intercepted it and ran it back 28 yards for a pick six. Calvin Delgas added the PAT kick, and slightly over one minute into the game, the Tigers led 7-0.
Five minutes later, Mason Hunt broke through the line and sprinted 28 yards for a touchdown to increase the Tiger lead to 13-0.
Neither team scored again until Northeastern finished off a sustained drive with a 1-yard TD plunge with 6:04 remaining in the first half. The Knights scored on a two-point conversion pass to Jay Burdette to cut their deficit to 13-8.
The Tigers forced a fumble with 1:12 remaining in the first half on the 29-yard line. Four plays later Graham Vinson connected with Tinkle in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown with 13 seconds on the clock to give the Tigers a 19-8 lead at halftime.
Neither team could score in the second half. Twice Tiger punter Kaden Hall had to chase down bad snaps and still had the composure to get booming kicks away. The two plays were game changers, Northeastern head coach Wes Oler acknowledged after the game. “They had a couple of bad snaps that could have given us great field position,” Oler said. “But their punter made great plays on both. Obviously, weather was a factor tonight, but no more for us than for them. We are both shotgun spread offenses.”
“They made the plays in the first half they needed to make before the rain picked up and we didn’t. We did some good things offensively but when you are dealing with a wet ball it is tough to throw. They had a great game plan to contain our speed. I was super proud of our defense to only give up two scores. We had two turnovers that really hurt. But that is a credit to them.”
Hagerstown head coach Scott Snodgrass was happy for his team. “Our defense did a great job,” Snodgrass said. “They are getting better. We needed a game like this. Our defense was great, our special teams were great and the offense scored enough to win. I am proud of them.”
Senior Tiger lineman Zerek Jett said the Tigers had a mental edge. “As soon as we stepped on the field tonight I felt a different sense of energy in all of us,” Jett said. ”We were fired up and ready. Right away Nick (Tinkle) had an interception for a touchdown. That just intensified our energy. We knew we could not let up and we didn’t.”
Vinson completed 10 of 20 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. Tinkle caught six passes for 95 yards and a touchdown, and Mason Hunt rushed for 78 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown.
Cale Schmitz led the Tiger defense with 17 tackles, Gus Golliher added 10 tackles and Keegan Rue had nine tackles. Heath Johnson had a fumble recovery.
Statistics for Northeastern were not available at press time.
Hagerstown (9-0) 13 6 0 0 19
Northeastern (4-5) 0 8 0 0 8
A version of this article will appear in the October 21 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
