Vicksburg High and Warren Central will kick off the 2015 football season by playing one of the biggest and one of the best Mississippi has to offer.

Vicksburg will face Harrison Central and Warren Central will play Wayne County in the 2015 Red Carpet Bowl next August, the Red Carpet Bowl Committee announced Tuesday at its monthly meeting.

The 2015 games will be played at Warren Central. The 2016 Red Carpet Bowl, with the matchups reversed, will be played at Vicksburg’s Memorial Stadium.

Harrison Central is one of the largest Class 6A schools in the state, while Wayne County has appeared in five state championship games and won three titles since 2002.

It will be the first Red Carpet Bowl appearance for Harrison Central, which went 6-6 and missed the playoffs this season. The Red Rebels have only made the playoffs five times since 1992.

Wayne County, on the other hand, is a perennial state championship contender. The War Eagles are 10-2 this year and will face Picayune in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs on Friday night.

Wayne County also is no stranger to the Red Carpet Bowl. It beat Warren Central 15-10 in the 2001 game, then knocked off preseason No. 1 Vicksburg, 28-14, to start the 2002 season.

Briggs Hopson, the Red Carpet Bowl Committee’s team selection consultant, said Wayne County’s tradition and its reputation for traveling well made it a desirable target for the game.

“Wayne County brought the biggest crowd we’ve ever seen 10 or 15 years ago. They’ve got a good following,” Hopson said.

Hopson said contracts were signed by Wayne County and Harrison Central a couple of weeks ago, but a formal announcement was delayed until everything was finalized.

In other business at Tuesday’s meeting:

• No decision has yet been made on whether to include Porters Chapel Academy in the 2015 Red Carpet Bowl. PCA made its first RCB appearance this season against Union Christian as the first game in a tripleheader.

• Dr. Gary Anderton assumed the chairmanship of the Red Carpet Bowl Committee, succeeding outgoing chairman David Boolos.

• Plans were discussed for the 2015 Red Carpet Bowl Basketball Classic, to be held Jan. 24 at Vicksburg High School. The event will feature eight games over the course of nearly 12 hours, starting with St. Aloysius vs. Sacred Heart at 9 a.m.

Porters Chapel will play Tensas Academy in the second set of games, followed by Greenville O’Bannon vs. Warren Central. Host Vicksburg takes on Terry in the finale, with the girls scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and the boys at 7:30.