Bridgeport and Lewis County knew reclassification was coming. Now they can start preparing for it.
The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission bumped the Indians and Minutemen up from Class AA to AAA on Monday. The news was hardly shocking, however. According to officials from both schools, all the WVSSAC did was confirm a rumor.
"When we looked at our numbers, we anticipated being moved back," Lewis County athletic director Richard Messenger said.
The changes are for all sports and will last from 2004-08. The WVSSAC will wait four years instead of two for the next cycle of reclassification.
Lewis County was moved down from AAA to AA in the last cycle just two years ago. Now Lewis County will be the smallest AAA school in the state with 640 students in grades 9-11. Bridgeport will be the fourth-smallest, with 649 students.
Bridgeport athletic director Larry Burner expected to be moved up in the last cycle. The Indians went to AAA by choice in 1972 and won a state football title that same year and again in 1979 before falling back down to AA in the 1980s.
"It just looked like our numbers were too close to other schools, and they were trying to keep numbers consistent," Burner said.
Messenger doesn't expect Lewis County's football schedule to change much. Bridgeport, on the other hand, already has made some changes and will play five AAA schools next season.
The Indians have added Preston and Fairmont Senior to the schedule. This is in addition to annual games with East Fairmont and Big 10 foes Lewis County and archrival Robert C. Byrd.
"At our size, I don't think we need any more than that," Burner said. "You don't want to kill your kids and get them discouraged. You want to give them an opportunity to win."
Bridgeport is making its 11th straight appearance in the playoffs this year, the longest streak in the state, with one state title in 2000. With the jump to AAA, Burner believes that streak could be in jeopardy. He said the Indians can afford two losses if they beat a few AAA schools.
"There is a big disparity between the biggest and smallest schools in AAA," Burner said. "We could sneak in and beat those teams every once in awhile, but it's hard to do that on a regular basis."
Jefferson, the largest school in Class AAA, has an enrollment of 1,669, giving it 1,029 more students than Lewis County.
The latest shuffle also will mean reconfiguring sectional and regional playoffs in sports other than football. Bridgeport girls basketball coach Dave Marshall offered guesses of the Indians and Lewis County either heading south with Robert C. Byrd, Elkins, Buckhannon-Upshur and Nicholas County or north with Fairmont or Morgantown area teams. The WVSSAC likely will wait until the spring to decide.
Marshall's team is a perennial regional title contender. The Indians fell one game shy of the state tournament last year. From his team's perspective, the move doesn't change much until he reaches the state tournament, when Bridgeport would have to face the top AAA teams, such as Morgantown, South Charleston and Nitro.
"We've been in one whale of a region in AA," Marshall said. "We'll just have to work harder in the offseason."
Sports writer Rob Peirce can be reached at 626-1444 or by e-mail at rpeirce@exponent-telegram.com.
