Every high school football player’s goal is to make the playoffs, play during Thanksgiving Break and ultimately a gold ball. For the 2025 MacArthur High School football program, they reached two of those goals and earned something that not a lot of teams get to do and no LPS football team has ever done, hosting not one, but two playoff games on their way to a semifinal appearance.
After beating Bishop McGuinness 35-21 to clinch the 5A-1 District Championship with a 5-1 record and winning the tie-breaker with 66 total points, beating Newcastle by seven points and Bishop McGuinness by 10 in the standings. That earned them the right to be the first LPS football program to host an OSSAA playoff game on their new home turf on the east side of town. Their first-round draw brought Noble to the MacArthur campus for the opening round contest.
The Highlanders may have been a little too amped up to start the game, as penalties stalled their opening offensive drive, however, after a defensive stop, the running game got going as junior Connor Claborn broke free for a 30-plus yard run on the second play of MAC’s second drive. After a strong run by senior Joziah Thomas got the offense in the red zone, Claborn finished it off with his first of many touchdowns on the day. After a fourth down sac by the MHS defense, a pair of Claborn runs resulted in six more points for the home team. The Noble offense struggled to get anything going and Claborn kept pounding the rock, scoring from 26 yards out for his third score of the game to help make it a 20-0 contest midway through the second quarter. Just a few minutes later, the district Player of the Year senior Joshua Rushing got in on the action by catching a short pass and making a defender miss for an 8-yard score. It went from bad to worse for the Bear’s offense on the next drive as a fumbled snap resulted in a safety, giving MHS a 29-0 advantage. Thomas and Claborn both added scores on the ground and then senior Gunner Tate caught a short pass from fellow senior quarterback Aivan Locklin to all but put the game away before halftime with a 50-0 Highlander advantage. Senior speedster Quinton Mask added a score on a kickoff return while Noble finally got on the board in the second half, making the final score 57-14. The win advanced MAC to the second round where they would host Del City for a spot in the OSSAA semifinals.
Back on “The Hill” the Highlanders offense kept rolling from the opening drive. Despite being backed up to their own 1-yard line, MAC marched down the field and got a quick score from the bruising freshman running back Princeton Salazar, which would be just the start of his historic night on the ground. Del City’s offense came to play as well and answered with their own long drive after an interception, but the MAC truck kept pounding away as Salazar broke free for a 30-yard score, his second of the night. Salazar and the MAC running game answered again after a Del City score with a 60-yard score to put them back on top midway through the second quarter. The Highlanders added to that with a Tate score on an identical play as the one he scored on the week prior. Unfortunately, the Eagle offense was just as explosive and scored on back-to-back drives to make it a 28-all game at halftime. Del City came out and scored on their first play of the second half, but MacArthur answered quickly with another punch-in run by Salazar to keep the score deadlocked. The back and forth continued with a quick score from Del City and a Salazar score on back-to-back drives to make it a 49-all contest with just seconds left in the third quarter. The MAC defense stepped up in the fourth quarter and opened the frame with a fourth-down stop to set the Highlanders up to re-take the lead with a short field. They did just that as Claborn capped off the drive with a short run to make it 56-49. Another stop by the MHS defense led to a 55-yard scamper by Locklin to put his team up by two scores. On the next drive, the Highlander defense bent, letting Del City get just inside the red zone, but did not break, forcing an interception to get the ball back with 4:19 to play. A long run by Salazar and a score by Claborn all but iced the game for the Highlanders as they got one last defensive stop and went into victory formation on the final drive to win 70-49 and punch their ticket to the semifinals. Salazar finished the game with six rushing touchdowns. Next up for the Highlanders was a rematch against a Bishop McGuinness who was looking to get revenge on the Highlanders for spoiling their District Championship pursuit.
Facing the Fighting Irish on a neutral site, Noble High School, in wet and cold conditions proved to be a tough task for the Highlanders. McGuinness got the scoring started with a rushing touchdown halfway through the first quarter. The Highlanders marched right down the field and answered with a score from Claborn with just a few minutes off the clock in the second period, tying the game at 7-7. The Big MAC defense was able to stop the Irish on the next possession but a pick-6 put the Irish back on top. Claborn answered with his second score of the day, a 62-yard score to tie the contest once again. A special teams miscue on the following kickoff led to a Bishop McGuinness score but Claborn continued to run behind his big offensive line and got into the endzone again to tie the game at 21-all. The Irish capped off a long drive at the end of the half with a score to make it 28-21 going into the break. Bishop McGuinness carried that momentum into two quick scores to start the second half and they never looked back. Claborn was able to get into the endzone one more time for his fourth score of the game making it a final score of 61-28.
It was a great and historic season for the Highlanders as they claimed not only the District Championship but also the City Championship while also hosting their first home game and first home playoff games on their campus. Their success led to multiple All-District honors including Coach of the Year for head coach Brett Manning, Player of the Year in Rushing, and Defensive Player of the Year in senior Adam Auston.