One of the state’s premier high school rivalries is renewed tonight when Bridgeport visits East-West Stadium to take on Fairmont Senior.

 

It does have a slightly different feel this year as the Indians are back in Class AAA, where they are currently No. 4 according to the latest Metro News Power Rankings, and the Polar Bears remain in Class AA, where they are currently No. 2.

 

Senior currently has a four-game win streak against BHS and is the only Big 10 Conference school to have beaten the Indians since 2010. At least one of the two has appeared in every Class AA state championship game since 2013 with five titles between them in that span.

 

“I think the 2016 playoff game, we had a chance to win and we had a chance in 2017,” Bridgeport coach John Cole said. “The past two years, I think they were a little stronger up front than us and they had the skill to go along with it.”

 

The Indians are coming off a dominant 63-0 victory in their season opener against Liberty where the new single wing offense was introduced in spectacular fashion.

 

BHS put up 485 yards of total offense, including 442 on the ground, en route to scoring its most points in a game since the 2015 team put up 71 against Elkins.

 

Eleven different players ran for at least 10 yards against the Mountaineers, with Cam Cole leading the way with 140. Six different players had rushing touchdowns with J.D. Love and Hayden Moore each finishing with two.

 

“When you run this offense, the back has got to get the football,” Cole said. “The football has got to get to where it needs to be and it has got to get to different places. It is a lot more intricate than the eye can see and for the most part that happened fairly well.”

 

The Tribe also had TD through the air as sophomore Phil Reed connected with Landyn Reppert for a 43-yard scoring.

 

Reed, one of two sophomores starting for the Tribe (the other being left tackle Wyatt Minor), also had a strong debut at linebacker, leading the team with eight tackles and two forced fumbles. The Indians limited Liberty to 143 yards of total offense.

 

The Polar Bears also played in and won their opener last week against North Marion. Senior was supposed to play the week prior but that potential opener with Lincoln was canceled when a positive COVID-19 case shut down the Cougars for two weeks.

 

To the surprise of nobody, senior quarterback Gage Michael carried the Polar Bears’ offense in the 41-21 win against the Huskies.

Michael ran for 252 yards and four touchdowns, while completing 14-of-22 passes for 229 yards.

 

Kie Cottingham added a rushing TD for Senior as well as 92-yard kick return for a TD.

 

In last year’s 34-15 win against Bridgeport, Michael ran for 274 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 124 yards and two more scores.

 

The past couple of years, the Polar Bears have had a bit of an advantage up front in terms of both size and experience. That’s not necessarily the case in 2020 as the Indians have three returning starters led by all-stater Devin Hill, while the Polar Bears are somewhat inexperienced on the line.

 

“They lost some seniors, they lost some Division I football players (namely Zach Frasier),” Cole said. “But they have a Division I player left at quarterback and he is a huge concern. A lot of what they do revolves around him. They still have some size up front they are just younger.

 

“They are a good team and they are going to be a challenge and hopefully our kids are up for that challenge.”

 

Today’s game will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Indians Radio Network with Travis Jones and Chris George on the call.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows the BHS captains from Week 1, second photo features J.D. Love, third photo shows the Indians' defense making a play, while fourth photo is of Fairmont Senior quarterback Gage Michael from last year's game against the Tribe.