The Hagerstown football team defeated Union City 41-0 during their regular-season meeting at Union City on Sept. 5. The Tigers hosted Union City on Friday, Oct. 24, to open postseason play in 1A sectional 44 and ended the Indians’ season with a 31-13 win.
There was one “Small” difference between the two games and one huge difference. In the first meeting, Tiger freshman running back Lincoln Small sat out because of an injury. In this game, the elusive Small introduced himself to the Indians by rushing for 202 yards. The huge difference was the absence of Hagerstown sophomore quarterback Graham Vinson, who had thrown for 1,340 yards and rushed for 437 yards this season before suffering a season-ending injury in the Tigers’ final regular-season game. Arlin Berger took over the quarterbacking duties, completing nine of 10 pass attempts for 73 yards.
After scoring the first touchdown of the game on a 6-yard run early in the first quarter, Nick Tinkle had four interceptions, of which one was a 28-yard pick six and another was a 25-yard pick six.
Jaxon Hale returned the third-quarter kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and added two interceptions. The defense secured a first-quarter safety. Tinkle and Isaac Schmitz were the leading Tiger tacklers with five each, and Schmitz was the leading receiver with four catches for 55 yards. Cale Schmitz delivered three PAT kicks and Berger ran in a two-point conversion.
Both Union City touchdowns came on passes from Jayson Conner to D’Shaun Ware.
Hagerstown head coach Scott Snodgrass addressed Vinson being out. “We all feel bad for Graham,” Snodgrass said. ”He has been such a critical part of this team. But we talked all week about the fact that on good teams, when you have injuries, everybody else steps up and that is what happened across the board tonight. Special teams, defense and offense all responded so we could play again next week. I am proud of them.”
The Tigers will continue postseason play on Friday, Oct. 31, when they travel to Parker City for a semifinal matchup with the Monroe Central Golden Bears.
Hagerstown (4-6) 9 7 7 8 31
Union City (2-8) 0 6 0 7 13
A version of this article appeared in the October 29 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.