Imagine trying to launch a college football program virtually from scratch, reviving your school’s gridiron tradition after nearly 70 years.
Imagine trying to bring your program into existence in a state already rich in college football options, from Division I power schools to D3, NAIA and junior college.
Imagine, too, a worldwide pandemic hits on the year of your first scheduled season, then massive changes to the whole college athletics landscape sweep in behind that.
Welcome to the Barton College football experience, where head coach, players and athletic director once helped plant the sod on what would become the school’s first football practice field at the Wilson campus.
“Those guys literally laid the foundation of our program with their own sweat equity,” Barton head coach Chip Hester told Our State magazine. “Fortunately, we’d recruited a bunch of tough country boys who were used to hard work and getting their hands dirty.”
Barton College football has completed five full seasons now. And it’s tough to consider the Bulldogs’ re-entrance into the college gridiron scene as anything but a success. Barton has established itself well among its Division II peers in our state – enjoying two winning seasons and putting two players on professional rosters – and seems poised to step positively into its next chapter.
“The guys on the team and our coaches, we’ve been a part of some historic things, some historic wins,” Hester said. “In the grand scheme of things, our guys have accomplished a lot in a small amount of time. And now we want to take the next step.”
From imagination to reality
Barton president Doug Searcy had the vision to bring football back to Barton when he took over in 2015. The program had been scuttled after the 1950 season, when Barton was known as Atlantic Christian College.
Hester, a Millbrook High alumnus and former head coach at Catawba, was hired in 2018. Searcy joked that he wasn’t even sure if there was a football on campus at that time. Just dreams and blueprints.
“A lot of our initial recruiting pitch was, ‘You’re going to have to use your imagination,’” Hester told Our State magazine. “But I could envision what was possible.”
Hester and staff set about recruiting the fertile grounds of North Carolina high school football, especially in the eastern part of the state. Yes, the Old North State has prospects worthy of Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Ohio State and the ACC. But it has plenty of talent to offer North Carolina’s smaller schools as well. Hester and company quickly made in-roads.
Barton proved competitive from the start. The Bulldogs’ first game, in February 2021 amid the COVID pandemic, proved a nailbiter – a 30-28 loss to visiting Erskine. The first win came that April, a 24-7 contest against Louisburg College, the state’s lone junior college program.
That fall Barton won six of 11 games, including a 26-20 overtime thriller against South Atlantic Conference heavyweight Wingate. The Bulldogs had been nationally ranked in the top 10 at the time. Running back Jordan Terrell, a product of Eastern Randolph High in Ramseur, blitzed Wingate for 174 yards and three touchdowns.
After a dip to 4-7 the next year, Barton powered to a 6-5 mark in 2023. This was the season many of the “Founding Fathers” of the program – that first recruiting class that bought into the vision and helped sod the practice field – left an indelible imprint for the next generation to follow.
Terrell finished among the national leaders in rushing yards (1,732). Rocky Mount’s Jaquan Lynch (Rocky Mount High) and Kameron Johnson (Northern Nash) proved an electric quarterback-wide receiver combination. Linebackers Shane Perry from Holly Springs (Holly Springs HS) and Matt Smith from Raleigh (Wakefield HS) combined for 200 tackles.
The Bulldogs opened the season 3-0, beating FCS Davidson on the road 33-31 – a notable upset. After dropping a few close conference contests to Catawba and Limestone, they finished with a flurry. Terrell threatened the D2 rushing record in the swan song, galloping for 403 yards as Barton beat Erskine 48-14.
Johnson then made national headlines last summer, getting signed as an NFL undrafted free agent and eventually making the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ opening day roster. Terrell landed with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. Perry transferred to East Carolina for his final season of eligibility.
The standard had been set. Come to Barton, and great things can happen: on the field and in your future careers.
“I love this level of football because I think there are still some old school parts about it,” Hester said. “We’ve had some recruits on campus (early 2025), and I’ve been telling them, look, we want to develop young people. That is what our mission statement is. That’s what gives me the most joy – talking about some of our guys who have already gotten jobs and a guy playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and one playing in the CFL.”
Turning the page: New faces, new conference
The 2024 season proved something of a rebuild for the Bulldogs, as most expected. There were a lot of holes to fill and it took time for the lineup to gel. Both Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne shut the ‘Dogs out in October, but the offense started to find its footing after that, beating Catawba 49-35, then playing both Limestone and UVA Wise tough.
Al Lee, a star from perennial power Reidsville High, took over at quarterback for the final three games. He threw a pair of long-distance touchdown passes to Zakvil Smith (Wilson | St. Augustine’s transfer) and Jayden Flood-Brown (Newport News, Va. | Louisburg College transfer) in the Catawba victory.
Freshman running back Jackson Parrish (Graham | Southern Alamance) got untracked. He had three 100-yard games over the last four of the season, finishing with 536 yards and nine touchdowns.
Dereck Barringer (Rockingham | Rockingham Senior HS) and Smith led the way on defense with 93 and 76 tackles respectively. Both earned all-conference. E’Lla Boykin (Mount Olive | Southern Wayne HS) collected SAC Defensive Freshman of the Year honors, earning 53 stops with 3.5 tackles-for-loss and an interception.
“Al Lee showed some really good things,” Hester said. “Jackson Parrish came on strong and made all-conference. We had some guys all over the place who were young and who got opportunities. Football, especially in the South Atlantic Conference, is so competitive.”
Barton will play in a new conference this fall, but one that is plenty familiar to all of its other sports teams. Much like Barton, Conference Carolinas leaders had a vision to restart football as a league sanctioned sport after a several decades absence.
The conference will re-launch this season with seven schools: Barton, Chowan, UNC Pembroke, North Greenville (S.C.), Erskine (S.C.), Shorter (Ga.) and Ferrum (Va.).
The Bulldogs should be in the mix right away. And with a recent NCAA decision granting an automatic playoff qualifier to each Division II conference, a postseason berth is a distinct possibility.
Spring workouts will begin in March for the Bulldogs. The spring game has been set for Saturday, April 12. The official 2025 schedule has not yet been released, but Conference Carolinas has already announced it will have a special media day in July to promote the re-launch of football in the league.
Hester is ready to see what will be written next for this program that has so far lived up to its nickname.
“We’ve got a lot of skill guys back on both sides,” he said. “We’ve got some new faces and some new guys in starting roles on the offensive line that will need to step up. We’ve got some young guys I think can really, really take a step forward.”
Isaiah Jacobs (Raleigh | Enloe HS) has big-play potential at wide receiver, Hester said. He’s 6-4, made 25 catches a year ago and has big-play potential. Joshua Hightower (Smithfield | Smithfield-Selma) could emerge as a force on the defensive front. He was a redshirt freshman in 2024 and recorded 46 tackles.
Spring practice will reveal others.
“I’ve always said that springtime is my favorite time of the year, just as a true coach,” Hester said. “You’re not preparing for a game so you get to coach and teach and do what you really love doing. Obviously you want to work on your base things but you get to experiment. You get to put guys in different situations and find out what they can do. It is such an important time for a football team.”
Barton’s full 2025 football schedule has not yet been released, but you can still explore and bookmark the Bulldogs’ official schedule page.
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To check out spring football game dates and times around the state, visit our Spring Football Games page.
