While the area will not produce a high school football state champion following East Regional defeats by Jacksonville and Northside last week, it still was a strong area on the local stage.

There were certainly a lot of memorable moments on the gridiron during the 2025 season. Here is a look at the top 10 moments of area football. 

Pineda’s touchdown rallies Vikings

White Oak senior Edrick Pineda returned a fumble 50 yards for a touchdown on the last play as the Vikings rallied for 32-26 win at Kinston, which plays this weekend in the state 3-A championship game.

White Oak tied the game at 26-26 with seven seconds left when Josh Smith threw a touchdown pass to Elliott Pineda and then scored on the two-point conversion.

Kinston then attempted a hook-and-ladder play, but fumbled the pitch, and Edrick Pineda returned the ball all of the way for the winning score. 

Pearson runs past Bears

Jacksonville junior Amari Pearson rushed for 331 yards and six touchdowns on just 16 carries to lead the Cardinals to a 67-34 win at New Bern.

Pearson’s final touchdown came on an 81-yard run while he also had a 40-yard score. 

Liberty Christian plays for title

Sophomore Eddie Deptola rushed for five touchdowns and threw for two more to Holden Smith in Liberty Christian Academy’s 53-8 home win over Berean Baptist Academy.

The victory was the Heat’s sixth consecutive win and sent the third-year team to the N.C. Independent eight-man conference championship game.

Liberty ended 6-4 after falling to Sandhills Classical Christian in the title game and then to Providence Athletic Club in a national tournament. 

Northside duo sets records

Northside junior Gavyn Davis set the Monarchs’ all-time receptions record and also broke the single-game record when he had 12 catches for 172 yards and three touchdowns against Jacksonville. Later in the season, sophomore Reginald Gray III set the Monarchs’ single-season passing record, finishing with 2,474 yards and 26 touchdowns. 

Gulat leads Dixon to historic win

Senior JJ Gulat rushed for 429 yards and seven touchdowns on 36 carries to lead No. 18 Dixon past No. 15 Rockingham County 58-50 in double overtime in the first round of the 5-A playoffs.

It marked the Bulldogs’ first playoff win in program history and solidified Gulat as one of the, if not the area’s best player. Gulat ended with 3,361 yards rushing and 43 touchdowns on 354 carries as Dixon finished 6-6 – the most wins since the Bulldogs were 7-4 in 2019. 

White Oak gets needed victory

Senior Josh Smith rushed for 193 yards and two touchdowns and threw for another as No. 18 White Oak downed No. 15 Eastern Guilford in the first round of the 6-A playoffs.

It marked the Vikings’ first postseason win since 2004 and also ended a five-game skid for White Oak. The Vikings ended 5-7, and Smith ended with 1,420 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns and 1,447 yards passing and 17 more touchdowns. 

Boucher dominates Seaforth

Croatan junior Andrew Boucher rushed for 197 yards and seven touchdowns on just 15 carries to lead the fourth-seeded Cougars to a 49-13 victory over No. 20 Seaforth in the second round of the 5-A playoffs.

Boucher set the tone with a 60-yard touchdown run. After Seaforth tied the game, Boucher followed with a 10-yard touchdown, and later scored for the fourth time to make it 28-7 late in the second quarter.

The win sent the Cougars to the third round for the first time. 

Monarchs end streak … and get more

Freshman Zion Jones rushed for 220 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries as third-seeded Northside topped No. 19 Person in the second round of the 5-A playoffs.

This was the Monarchs’ first playoff win since 2019. They had not won a postseason game since a 50-6 victory over C.B. Aycock on Nov. 14, 2019, in what was also Northside’s previous home playoff game.

Later in the playoffs, junior Jamian Johnson had five catches for 157 yards and a touchdown in the Monarchs’ 21-6 fourth-round win over Rocky Mount that sent Northside to its first regional final since 2016. 

McBride kicks Croatan to another exciting win

As if Croatan’s 14-7 regular-season win over Havelock wasn’t special enough, junior Kannon McBride gave the Cougars another memorable victory over the Rams as his 32-yard field goal with 12 seconds left lifted fourth-seeded Croatan past the No. 12 Rams in the third round of the 5-A playoffs. 

Cardinals get back to regional

Jacksonville allowed just 140 yards of total offense, including only 54 in the first half, as the top-seeded Cardinals topped fourth-seeded Union Pines 34-7 in the fourth round of the 6-A playoffs.

The win sent the Cardinals in to the East Regional final for the second consecutive season and also continued a historic season that saw Jacksonville finished the regular season undefeated for the first time since 1982 and win an outright conference title for the first time since 1990.

Chris Miller can be contacted via email at cmiller@jdnews.com. Follow him on X @jdnsports.