The Northeastern Knights hosted Hagerstown on Friday, Oct. 17, on its senior night. The outright Tri-Eastern Conference championship was on the line for the Knights, who were heavy favorites.
For the first half, and for nearly eight minutes into the third quarter, the young Tigers surprised the Knights by battling them to a 14-14 tie. Back-to-back goal line stands by the Knight defense, followed by an 87-yard touchdown pass from Marshall Phillips to Quanell Denton, allowed the Knights to take control of the game.
Halfway through the first quarter, Trent Deloney ran 15 yards for a touchdown and Phillips kicked the extra point to give the Knights an early 7-0 lead. One minute into the second quarter, Hagerstown quarterback Graham Vinson threw a 49-yard TD pass to Fletcher Callahan, and Cale Schmitz kicked the extra point to tie the score. The Knights retook the lead when Kale Henson picked off a pass and ran 42 yards for a score. A Phillips kick gave the Knights a 14-7 lead. The Tigers answered with a 14-yard TD pass from Vinson to Isaac Schmitz. Cale Schmitz added the PAT that tied the score at 14-14. The Knights had a chance to score again in the second quarter, but Nick Tinkle intercepted a pass in the end zone to stop the drive.
The young Tigers were still hanging around in the third quarter and had scoring opportunities. They had a first-and-goal opportunity twice in a four-minute span, but both times the Knight defense held and turned them over on downs.
On the next sequence, Phillips connected on an 87-yard touchdown pass to give the Knights a 20-14 lead. The PAT kick was wide, but it didn’t matter. Three minutes later, Phillips threw a 49-yard TD pass to Caden Retter to give all the momentum to the Knights.
The Knights tacked on a Dylan Ross fourth-quarter touchdown, a Phillips PAT and a 23-yard Phillips field goal to close out their scoring with a 36-14 win.
Phillips completed 11 of 16 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns. Dylan Ross was the leading Knight rusher with 65 yards, Deloney rushed for 51 yards and Phillips rushed for 46 yards. Vinson completed 10 of 19 passes for 192 yards and two TDs. Freshman running back Lincoln Small gained 119 yards on 21 carries for Hagerstown. Charlie Shaffer was the leading tackler for the Knights with 16, Gavin Harrison had 12 tackles and Dakota May had 11. Cale Schmitz was the leading tackler for Hagerstown with 13.
The win clinched the TEC title for the Knights with an 8-0 record in league play. The win was the 16th consecutive regular season TEC win.
Northeastern head coach Wes Oler reflected on the game and the season. “We were a little frustrated on defense as the game wore on,” Oler said. ”The two huge red-zone stops in the third quarter to keep them out of the end zone changed everything. We gained confidence and hit a home-run pass. From there, momentum shifted completely to us. When we get a lead, we have to be able to run the ball and we did. I am proud of our seniors; 16 straight conference wins is hard to do in any conference. We told our kids all week not to overlook Hagerstown. They may be young, but they are well coached and have a lot of pride.”
Hagerstown head coach Scott Snodgrass gave Northeastern credit. “Our kids played older than they are tonight,” Snodgrass said. “They are maturing. Northeastern is very good. They took advantage of us with their speed and skill. We missed coverage on one play and they scored on an 87-yard play. They are good, but our kids did not back down.”
Hagerstown will open postseason play on Friday, Oct. 24, when they host Union City.
Northeastern will open its postseason play with a trip to Middletown the same night to play the Shenandoah Raiders, looking for revenge. Shenandoah was the only team to defeat Northeastern this season.
Northeastern (8-1, 8-0 TEC) 7 7 12 10 36
Hagerstown (3-6, 3-5 TEC) 0 14 0 0 14
A version of this article appeared in the October 22 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.