With Regular Season Complete, Title Defense Begins in Earnest for Bridgeport Boys
By Michael Minnich on March 06, 2026
BRIDGEPORT – After playing 22 games in the regular season and winning 18 of them, the Bridgeport Indians are four steps away from the finish line.
Regional final, state quarterfinal, state semifinal, state final – the four hardest ones as the Tribe aim to retain the Class AAA championship.
Something that has aided in the title defense is a difficult schedule.
Bridgeport has lost to all three of the teams ranked above them in the latest West Virginia Schools Athletic Coaches Association (WVSACA) poll: Chapmanville, Capital and North Marion.
“I want to play them more than anything if we can get to Charleston,” junior Anderson McDougal said.
The Tribe also beat No. 7 East Fairmont, lost to No. 8 Greenbrier East and swept two games from No. 10 Fairmont Senior.
They also defeated Class AAAA No. 6 University and No. 8 Buckhannon-Upshur.
“We’re going to hope that the schedule we’ve played this year and the games we’ve had help us, but I’m not really excited personally about this week-and-a-half layoff,” coach Dave Marshall said, referring to the gap between the final regular season game on Feb. 27 and the regional co-final March 10, caused by Bridgeport’s No. 1 seed in the Region II tournament. “I see the negatives of it, but the positives are, we get to back and work on us, especially this week.”
And they can work on their health.
“Sam (Romano) has had a bit of an injury and we’ve been ravaged by the flu,” Marshall said. “We can try to get them back in sync and on the same page.”
“I think the teams (in the Big 10) are a lot better than they usually are,” McDougal said. “We’re all prepared for it. We all watch film and study. I think we can win the whole thing, hopefully.”
Step one is winning the region against either Elkins or Lewis County on Tuesday.
“They’re a great team. They’re well-coached,” McDougal said. “We can’t overhype our game and think we’re just going to go in there and kill them because that’s not always the case. We’ve got to stay confident but humble.”
Much like last year, Bridgeport has several players capable of carrying the load in a given situation or game.
“As you hit the tournaments or any big game, there’s a lot of pressure. Everybody wants to be the guy, but if that’s you and you have an off night, boy, the pressure that can put on you,” Marshall said. “That’s awfully hard to do for any human being. So, when you have that pressure off, you can let it flow and let the other guys do it. You have to make sure everybody’s doing it together.”
And if Bridgeport can make it to Charleston, they know what to expect.
“Gavin (Williams), Aryon (Dodd) and myself, we have a lot of experience down there,” McDougal said. “We know to space the floor since it’s a bigger court. We need to make sure we’re in shape and keep up our conditioning, so that when we’re in an up-and-down game, we can outlast our opponent.”
Editor's Note: Cooper Straley handles. Photo by Joe LaRocca.
