The Hagerstown Tigers, playing before a large Homecoming crowd on Friday, Sept. 19, welcomed neighboring Lincoln to town for a Tri-Eastern Conference game. The Tigers, usually a pass-first team, changed up their attack, only attempting six passes for the game. The Tiger game plan was to run the ball. 

The Tigers were very effective; 90 seconds into the game, Jaxon Hale broke away on a 55-yard touchdown run. On the ensuing play, Ben Hokey intercepted a Lincoln pass attempt and ran it back 46 yards to the 22-yard line. Lincoln Small ran the final 22 yards for a touchdown. 

Lincoln fumbled the ball on their next possession and Keegan Rue scored on the next play from 8 yards out. Small added another 11-yard TD run, and Rue scored from 18 yards out. The PAT kicks from Cale Schmitz were good each time and gave the Tigers a 35-0 lead after one quarter.  

Hagerstown’s Landon Thornburg attempts to block a pass by Lincoln’s Braxton Dick. Photo by Lilley Photography

Small’s third touchdown of the game came on a 28-yard run 10 seconds into the third quarter.

Caden Alvarez put Lincoln on the scoreboard on the next play when he returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown that made the score 42-6, but the Tigers answered with touchdown runs from Hale, Small and Ty Lieberman to balloon their lead to 63-6 at halftime and trigger a running clock in the second half. 

The Tigers added six points in the third quarter on a TD run from Lieberman and seven points in the fourth quarter on a 20-yard run from Landon Gilbert. Lincoln added a touchdown in the third quarter on a one-yard quarterback keeper from Braxton Dick.

The Eagles rushed for 40 yards with Braxton Dick gaining all 40. Dick also completed five of 23 pass attempts for 112 yards. Dustin Lunsford was the leading receiver with 58 yards on four catches. Kaiden Carver caught a pass for 54 yards. Dick and Alvarez each had nine tackles for the Eagles. Lunsford had eight tackles and Gaige had seven. 

Graham Vinson completed four of six pass attempts for Hagerstown for 77 yards. The Tigers gained 463 yards on the ground. Gilbert gained 94 yards, Small 92 yards, Hale 92 yards, Lieberman 81 yards and Rue 76 yards. Defensively, the Tigers had four interceptions, and Arlin Berger, Fletcher Callahan and Cale Schmitz each had five tackles. 

Hagerstown’s Lincoln Small finds running room for one of his four touchdowns during the Tigers’ 76-12 victory over Lincoln. Photo by Sherry Stuart

Hagerstown head coach Scott Snodgrass said he was happy to be able to play a lot of kids. “Some of our young kids got a chance for playing time tonight,” Snodgrass said, “and for the most part, I was pleased. The rest of our schedule will be very challenging. We will have to work to improve.”  

Lincoln head coach Jeremy Bane was realistic. “I think we took a little step back tonight,” Bane said. “But I have been seeing progress. We are executing better. I thought we struggled with Hagerstown’s physicality tonight, but we will learn from that. Our kids come to practice every day and work to improve. I am proud of them.” 

Lincoln senior Braxton Dick said his team is getting better. “When teams lose, it can be difficult to gauge improvement. I see improvement every night in practice, and tonight we put 12 points on the scoreboard,” Dick said. “I see my teammates working hard in practice every night, and we are having fun.”

 Hagerstown (3-2, 3-2 TEC)   35   28   6   7     76

Lincoln (0-5, 0-5 TEC)             0     6   6   0     12

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A version of this article will appear in the September 24 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.

Dan Harney is a sports reporter at the Western Wayne News.