The reclassification numbers are in and Bridgeport will remain Class AA for the next four years of athletic competition. So all is well and taken care of, correct?

 

Nope. Not even close. For Bridgeport High School Principal Mark DeFazio and Assistant Principal Matt DeMotto, and in particular DeMotto who handles the athletic director duties, the next few weeks are going to be a challenge. And it’s going to primarily be a challenge on creating the upcoming 2016 football season schedule and perhaps beyond.

 

For those needing a refresher course, the recent reclassification left Bridgeport in ‘AA,’ but put a pair of Big 10 Conference foes down from Class AAA and into the Class AA rankings. That may not seem like a big deal, but it is. Now, the Big 10 Conference had just two Class AAA members in Preston and Buckhannon and those two schools are required to have six Class AAA opponents to qualify for the postseason

 

By losing Lewis County and Elkins, those two teams are going to have to make major changes to their schedules to meet that threshold. And what that likely means, according to DeMotto, is that next year’s football schedule could have as few as one and up to three new teams on it as well as some schedule time changes.

 

The bad news is that there’s not a whole lot of time to make changes. Football schedules are absolutely the hardest to do. You not only have to find mutual openings and find teams that meet classification guidelines or not over or under schedule to hurt teams, you also try to find a balance of five home and away games each year.

 

The good news? The work on it has already begun, and not just at Bridgeport High School.

 

“The Big 10 principals have already met a few times,” said DeFazio. “Some of us actually met the day the reclassification numbers came out and then we had a big meeting the very next day.”

 

The meeting took place a week ago Friday – Nov. 20 – at Bridgeport High School. DeFazio said a 10 a.m. meeting included principals and athletic directors of the 13 schools that make up the Big 10.

 

“The athletic directors continued meeting into the afternoon,” said DeFazio. “Everyone is trying to work out schedules and accommodate everyone.”

 

Needing the most accommodation are Buckhannon-Upshur and Preston. Forget being the only Class AAA teams in the Big 10, there aren’t a whole lot of close options for these schools. For those not playing the Mon County schools they could be added, but other than that you start looking at bus trips in the two- to even four-hour range.

 

“Preston and Big 10 are on an island by themselves,” said DeFazio. “We’re going to try and work with them the best we can and we’ll adjust our by-laws to reflect the classification changes. All we know for sure is that some of the teams they’re playing right now they will not be playing next year. They just can’t. It’s not their fault, but it’s something Bridgeport and others will either have to deal with or prepare to deal with.”

 

So what other team may not be on the slate? Although it’s not even close to official, DeFazio said a renewal of the Keyser series isn’t final.

 

“We hope we can work that out. It’s been a good series,” said DeFazio. “Nothing is certain at this point.”

 

What that means is until Preston and Buckhannon-Upshur can determine who they are playing to meet the Class AAA quota of six teams, DeMotto has to look to see who is available if they drop Bridgeport. In other words, he has to get ready to make moves as opposed to actually making them in a really tight time frame.

 

“The issue for the schedule is more troubling for us if those (Big 10) schools can’t play us. Buckhannon-Upshur appears to be out, but it’s not official,” said DeMotto. “Preston said they would like to continue, but added that the first priority is Class AAA opponents and they’re looking at Princeton, which is available in week 11.

 

“The problem for us is that week 11 is when we play them. The problem for Preston is they don’t want to travel there or have them travel to Preston because it’s too long and it kills the gate,” DeMotto continued. “Think about that trip. That’s like traveling halfway to Myrtle Beach.”

 

The issue facing DeMotto and every other athletic director is that answers to the scheduling questions have to come soon. He’s not the only one working the phones right now and he’s already contacted more than a dozen schools about playing.

 

“Those schedules will fill up quickly. This is going to be a tough period I’m afraid, but we’ll do everything we can to have 10 games next year with five home and five away,” said DeMotto.

 

DeFazio said that perhaps the WVSSAC could grant a waiver to a few of the ‘AAA’ schools allowing them to play five Class AA schools next year instead of six. He said that would only be for one year, but that it could help.

 

“(The SSAC) doesn’t meet again until January so who knows,” DeFazio said. “It’s an idea, but it’s one worth considering because I can’t imagine those two schools are alone in their issues and that their issues aren’t creating problems for other schools.

 

“The SSAC didn’t go into this thinking about the Big 10, but I would imagine this isn’t just a Big 10 issue, particularly with travel issues,” he continued. “A road trip that’s two or three hours away for four or five road games is difficult. There are substantial costs. It’s a very expensive proposition.”

 

There’s another question that’s going to be answered sometime after January as it relates to reclassification. DeMotto said that he believes early next year that the WVSSAC will send the principals and athletic directors of each school a list of proposed regional and sectional realignments for the sports – which is nearly all of them – under that format.

 

“The list the WVSSAC sends out isn’t necessarily carved in stone,” said DeMotto. “They allow the schools a period of time to comment on them.”

 

For those that think the comments are looked at and considered, DeFazio said that would be wrong. He said that Bridgeport’s comments were taken into account and acted upon during the last reclassification.

 

“I think the last proposal had us in a section with East Fairmont, Fairmont Senior and North Marion, which made no sense because we’re 10 to 15 minutes away from every schools in Harrison County that is in Class AA,” said DeMotto. “They looked at our comments and agreed with them so I can assure everyone that they do take things into account. It doesn’t mean they’ll act on every comment, but it tells me that they’re looking at those comments.”

 

DeMotto said the easiest thing to do is to try and make the best geographical fit. That, however, isn’t necessarily feasible.

 

“Historically, the WVSSAC tries to make the regions balanced, but that’s not always the easiest thing to do,” said DeMotto. “Even if you could take the 44 teams that will be Class AA next year and put 11 of them into four regions, you’d still have sectionals with one side having six teams and other side having five teams and that – again – is assuming that everyone is close to one another and you know that’s not going to be the case.

 

“This is going to again be a problem for Buckhannon. Where do they go? It’s a tough call,” he continued. “Do they head to Hampshire? Are they lumped into a region with Morgantown? That’s about to be decided and who knows what’s going to happen.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows BHS Principal Mark DeFazio, while Coach Josh Nicewarner and B-U Coach shake hands perhaps for the last time after