They are now in their junior year and have been living together since eighth grade.
High school football player Stone Earle didn’t know that one of his teammates would one day become his brother.
The Texas teens, both 17, were in eighth grade when Ladderious Mixon, who is originally from Alabama, moved in with the Earle family due to a change in his home situation.
“[It’s] just like a good friend staying with you and you see him every day,” Stone said.
The boys are now in their junior year of high school together at Birdville High School in North Richland Hills.
Not only are they close off the field, but the pair has become an incredible duo on it, with Stone as the school’s quarterback and Ladderious playing as running back.
“There is definitely a continuity there,” John Earle, the boys’ father, told InsideEdition.com. “There is a trust there. Even when one is in or one is out, if someone gets hurt or whatever, they don’t flow as well.
"But when they are both in the game together, the record speaks for itself.”
Earle first met Ladderious in a youth group at the church where he works as a pastor, First Colleyville. Ladderious’ mother had sent him to Texas from Alabama so that he could have better opportunities, but when his living situation didn’t pan out, he was left with a dilemma.
That’s when Earle stepped in and contacted the teen’s mom and asked if it’d be OK for Ladderious to stay with them. She said yes. That was three years ago.
“Mama is in Alabama, and we’re mom and dad. It’s a great thing,” Earle said. “We keep mom informed.”
The Earles became Ladderious’ legal guardians, something they are no stranger to. They have three biological children, one adopted daughter, and another young man, Samuel, whom they also have guardianship over.
This year, Ladderious and Stone’s football team is nearly undefeated, with a 10-1 record.
“Well, when you have played together, now live together just as long as you have known each other, it really is simple, they just trust each other,” Josie Earle, the boys’ mom, said.
They’ll be heading to college soon and they both think they’ll end up staying together.
“It’s probably going to happen,” Ladderious said.
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