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Reigning 1A State Champion Tarboro Unveils 2025 Football Schedule

Vikings ready for challenges of new conference, new classification

Published

March 14, 2025

Tarboro football players pose after winning the 1A state championship in 2024. The Vikings will be 2A in the latest NCHSAA realignment. Photo courtesy NCHSAA.

Tarboro High School, fresh off its ninth state championship, dropped its 2025 schedule this week, and it’s a gauntlet fit for one of the giants of small-schools football.

The Vikings, who ran roughshod over Corvian Community 45-24 in the NCHSAA 1A title game in December, are back to contend for another crown with new conference partners and a new classification to conquer.

The NCHSAA’s new eight-classification system, approved earlier this month, puts Tarboro back in the 2A ranks. The Vikings will join a split 2A/3A conference – as the only 2A member – with Ayden-Grifton, Beddingfield, Farmville Central, Greene Central and Kinston starting this fall.

Only Beddingfield had a losing record among that group a year ago. Kinston won nine games, including three in the playoffs. Ayden-Grifton and Farmville Central won eight apiece.

Tarboro played in the 1A/2A Four Rivers Conference last season with Martin County, Perquimans, Gates County, Bertie and Washington County. The Vikes posted a 5-0 record in league play on the way to a 14-1 overall mark and the mantle of 1A champions – the last of the NCHSAA’s four-classification era.

The Vikings’ 2025 season will kick off against Rocky Mount in a rematch of last season’s opener, won by Tarboro 30-0. Non-conference dates against Wilson Hunt, Havelock, fierce rival SouthWest Edgecombe and Northampton await over the following four weeks.

Havelock was the only team to beat Tarboro in 2024, by a 47-23 count. Havelock will be a 5A school this fall in the new alignment.

2025 Season Schedule. Once the NCHSAA releases our start date. We will add dates to the weeks. pic.twitter.com/lcGX2XXs8n — Tarboro Football (@TarboroFootball) March 13, 2025

The Vikings extended its winning streak against SouthWest Edgecombe the nine games in 2024, earning a 27-14 triumph. SouthWest will play at the 4A level this fall.

Farmville Central will serve as Tarboro’s homecoming guest in week eight. Beddingfield will be the Vikings’ senior night foe in week nine. The season concludes with a pair of road conference games. Northampton is the only 2A school on Tarboro’s schedule this fall. All the rest of the teams play at the 3A level or higher.

Tarboro won its first state championship in 1984 while a 3A school. The Vikings earned 2A state championships in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The state subdivided classifications for the football playoffs, and Tarboro claimed 1AA (“Big 1A”) state titles in 2017, 2018 and 2020. The state went back to four playoff brackets after COVID, and the Vikes won the 2021 1A crown, dropped title game tilts against Mount Airy in 2022 and 2023, then regained their throne last season.

Jeff Craddock has coached Tarboro for eight of its state championship seasons. He has been announced as a coach of the North Carolina team for the 2025 Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas game in December.

Tarboro Vikings 2025 Football Schedule

(Game dates still TBD)

Week 1: Rocky Mount (5A)
Week 2: Wilson Hunt (5A)
Week 3: Havelock (5A)
Week 4: SouthWest Edgecombe (4A)
Week 5: Northampton (2A)
Week 6: Bye
Week 7: at Greene Central* (3A)
Week 8: Farmville Central* (3A)
Week 9: Beddingfield* (3A)
Week 10: at Ayden Grifton* (3A)
Week 11: at Kinston* (3A)
*denotes conference game