EARLY – From one victory a season ago to a share of their first district championship in 18 years, the Early Longhorns’ 2025 football campaign has officially reached storybook status.
The Longhorns wrapped up the regular season Friday night on their home turf with 76-6 thrashing of the Dublin Lions, while Clifton upended Brady, 7-6, which created a three-way tie atop the final league standings, and district tri-champions.
In a points tiebreaker, Early (5-5, 4-1) is the No. 1 playoff seed, followed by Brady (7-3, 4-1) – which edged the Longhorns, 17-15, in four overtimes – as the No. 2 seed, and Clifton (8-2, 4-1) – which fell to the Longhorns, 28-3 – will enter the playoffs as the No. 3 seed.
Early first-year head coach Marvin Wilson, also in his first season overall as a head coach, said of the Longhorns’ first district championship since 2007, “Our kids have earned this. I’m as proud of this group as any group I’ve ever been a part of. From where we started to tonight, they put in the work, they played hard, they just kept doing. I’m excited for them and they deserve tonight.”
With Early’s victory over Dublin (1-9, 1-4) never in doubt, the public address system at Longhorn Stadium kept those in attendance apprised of the Clifton-Brady result.
“We didn’t really look as coaches, other than at halftime,” Wilson said. “But our announcer is the one that was watching because all the sudden he comes over and said Clifton beats Brady, 7-6. We had the game in hand, but the kids didn’t fully grasp what that score meant because we hadn’t talked about it. We just focused on playing Dublin. So at the end of the game, we explain to the kids what happened, then our superintendent walked up with that gold ball, and that was a huge deal. I’m just fired up for these kids.”
Early generated 589 yards of total offense – 409 rushing and 180 passing – against Dublin, which entered the contest having allowed 53 points per game on average.
On the ground, Isaac Ybarra led the charge with 167 yards and two touchdowns, including a 92-yard gallop, on just six carries, while Cameron Love chipped in 117 yards and three scores on only five rushes. Stone Ratliff crossed the goal line twice and amassed 48 yards on six carries, while Skyden Stoddart chipped in 35 yards, Brandon Walker tacked on 27, and Caden Wilson finished with 15 yards rushing.
Through the air, Wilson connected on 7 of 12 passes for 175 yards and a pair of scoring tosses. Andrew Reedy caught two passes for 76 yards and scored once, Jaxson Stockman added two grabs for 53 yards, Brennen Rasor finished with two receptions for 41 yards with a trip to the end zone, and Ratliff caught a 5-yard pass from Stoddart, who was 1 of 2 through the air.
Defensively, Aiden Driskill returned a Dublin fumble 93 yards for another Early touchdown.
The Longhorns’ playoff run begins at 7 p.m. Friday. Nov. 14 as they tangle with District 6-3A Division II No. 4 seed Holliday (6-4, 2-3), which earlier in the season was ranked in the Top 10 in the state, but is currently in the midst of a three-game skid after a 62-40 defeat at the hands of Jacksboro in the regular season finale.
