CLYDE — First-year Early head coach Marvin Wilson learned a lot about football in college at Hardin-Simmons University under the legendary Jimmie Keeling and spent this season instilling one of those lessons in his Longhorns squad.
“We are too ignorant to ever think we are out of a game,” he said. “Coach Keeling said it all the time: ‘Go play hard no matter what the circumstances are.’ We’ve tried to play hard and know that we are never out of games.”
The Longhorns came up short at Bulldog Stadium in their Region II-3A Division II bi-district matchup with Holliday, falling 50-36, but the Longhorns battled the entire night and that left Wilson emotional as Early saw its fifth playoff appearance in the past six years end after just one game.
It was a playoff appearance hardly anyone expected when the season began just over three months ago.
Clifton 7, Brady 6 — The Cubs finished with just 117 total yards and one touchdown, but it was enough claim a defensive win over the Bulldogs and the district’s No. 2 playoff seed.
Brady 20, Tolar 14 — Ashton Taylor ran for 164 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and the Brady defense limited Tolar to 199 yards of total offense as the Bulldogs scored a hard-fought win over the Rattlers to stay unbeaten in district play.
Early 28, Clifton 3 — Caden Wilson passed for 144 yards and two touchdowns, and the Longhorns defense limited the Cubs to just 80 yards of offense to improve to 2-0 in league play with a dominant effort against CHS.
Slowly but surely, the Cooper Cougars have emerged as one of the most explosive teams in the Big Country. And in its latest exploit, CHS rolled up 517 yards in total offense in a 66-16 win over Lubbock Cooper. 
The season’s midpoint usually offers little in the way of big-time performances, with most of the area teams taking a bye week prior to the opening of district play. 
As it turned out, the best game in the Big Country last week was Clyde’s dramatic 54-49 win over Muleshoe in the top shootout the area has seen thus far in 2025. 
Wylie junior Haddie Mock was at her very best against difficult competition last week, helping the Lady Bulldogs to wins over seventh-ranked 3A Bushland (25-8) and 21st-ranked 4A Stephenville last week. 
Tolar 42, Millsap 18 — Britton Rice passed for 171 yards and four touchdowns, and Kelvin Murray ran for 126 yards and a score to lead the Rattlers to a comfortable win over the Bulldogs.
EARLY — After laboring through a 1-9 season with an extremely young team, the Early Longhorns are hoping to gain traction in 2025 through increases in experience and maturity. And while they are still on the youthful side, it appears likely that the ‘Horns will take a step forward under new coach Marvin Wilson. 
At Big Country Preps, we pride ourselves on sharing the love as much as possible. But Wall senior Briggs Jones has been so spectacular of late, that he’s making that difficult. 
ABILENE — Both teams had dominated the Big Country and surrounding area for the entire track season, so few were stunned on Saturday when both Wall and Gordon captured the Region I-3A and II-1A boys championships at Abilene Christian University’s Elmer Gray Stadium.
