The Hagerstown football team traveled to defeat host Knightstown on Friday, Aug. 21, in its Tri-Eastern Conference opener with the Panthers.
Anxious to play after a difficult week, the teams waited out two lightning delays before the game got underway over an hour after the scheduled start time.
The focused Tigers won the coin toss and deferred to Knightstown. The opening kickoff pinned the Panthers deep, and two plays later the Tigers’ Landon Thornburg forced a fumble on the 5-yard line. Jaxon Hale ran it into the end zone on the next play, giving the Tigers a 6-0 lead less than one minute into the game.
The Panthers answered with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Bryor Carmichael to Alex Muir at the 9:26 mark to tie the score, and Moises Mendoza kicked the extra point to give the Panthers a 7-6 lead. It turned out to be the only Knightstown lead of the game.
The Tigers scored the next 21 points of the game. Vinson scored with 3:20 remaining in the first quarter on a 1-yard run and then threw a two-point conversion pass to Ben Hokey to give the Tigers a 14-7 lead.
The Tiger defense clamped down, holding the Panthers scoreless while the Tiger offense added two more second-quarter scores. Vinson scored from a yard out at 9:43 and threw a touchdown pass to Fletcher Callahan with 49 seconds remaining in the first half. Cale Schmitz added PAT kicks after each touchdown to increase the Tiger halftime lead to 28–7.
The second half slowed the scoring pace as defensive intensity picked up. The Panthers scored on a 5-yard TD pass from Carmichael to Billy Stein in the third quarter. The Tigers scored on a 29-yard touchdown run by Vinson in the fourth quarter.
The Hagerstown defense set the tone for the game. It contained the much-heralded 6-foot-5-inch Carmichael, who has interest from Division I colleges, by not allowing him to run, sacking him three times and intercepting him twice.
Vinson completed 11-29 pass attempts for 100 yards and also led the Tigers in rushing with nine carries for 59 yards and three touchdowns. Mason Hunt gained 57 yards on 14 carries. Jaxon Hale caught two passes for 36 yards, and Nick Tinkle caught three passes for 34 yards.
Defensively, Schmitz had 12 tackles for the Tigers, Gus Golliher had 10 tackles and Tinkle had eight. Vinson ran for three touchdowns and threw for another for the Tigers.
Hagerstown head coach Scott Snodgrass talked about the confidence the Tigers have in Vinson’s leadership. “Graham (Vinson) is a competitor who makes good decisions on the field and I trust him completely. So do his teammates — they love him,” Snodgrass said. “Considering the practice situation we have dealt with for the last 10 days, I am happy with our effort tonight. Our defense played very well and we got great blocking from our linemen.”
Hagerstown (1-0, 1-0 TEC) 14 14 0 6 34
Knightstown (0-1, 0-1 TEC) 7 0 7 0 14
A version of this article appeared in the August 26 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
