There was not a whole lot of fanfare, but the entire landscape of high school sports could have changed on Tuesday. Whether it would have been good for Bridgeport is a moot point as the landscape, at least for the near future remains the same.

 

What happened? Actually, it is what did not happen.

 

During the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission meeting that was held just down Interstate 79 at the Stonewall Jackson Resort, the WVSSAC’s Board of Control had a pretty significant vote in front of it. The Board of Control is made up of principals across the state – Bridgeport High School’s Matt DeMotto was one of them.

 

The decision was to vote on whether to add a fourth classification in sports other than basketball, which is the only sports with four classes at the moment in West Virginia. The motion failed.

 

Actually, it failed miserably. The vote was 137-5 to reject it. DeMotto said BHS was one of the 137 on this vote.

 

“We would rather have the opportunity to play more teams in our classification than less,” said DeMotto.

 

Make sense – simple math sense. Add a fourth class and you have less teams to choose from in your pool. While not an issue in many sports – like basketball where teams qualify for the postseason before play begins – it may be an issue in football.

 

And in football, you need to have more schools to choose from in an environment where there are not necessarily a lot in each class to begin with. Going to four classes may only drop that number by a few schools, but if it is a school that you play or another school you are playing competes with, it could have a domino effect.

 

Bridgeport Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Mark Jones has said rounding out a schedule for the Indians in football is a chore. Although in the Big 10, most schools are in Class AA (in all sports besides basketball) and the WVSSAC requires teams to play at least six schools in each classification.

 

“If it would have happened, it would have been interesting, particularly for teams on the border of a Class AAA or AAAA,” said Jones. “It really had the potential, in terms of scheduling to make things really difficult. You have to look at football because it is a different animal with a rating system and the requirements.”

 

Jones said had a fourth class been added, scheduling would have likely remained the same in the short term. He said even football, for at least the next year or two with contracts in place, would have been okay. Jones said if the breakdown were the same for all other sports as it is for basketball that football foes – Morgantown, Musselman, Princeton, Parkersburg South, Preston, Buckhannon-Upshur, and John Marshall – in 2022 would have been AAAA.

 

“We would have been all right, but the potential for future problems in football and even other sports is certainly there,” said Jones.

 

When talking about the move to four classes in basketball, the term “competitive balance” was thrown about as the reason. And the classifications were not divided up based on school enrollment as in the past.

 

Although still a factor, there were new ones. The local economy, the area’s population, as well as a school’s proximity to a county seat, was added to the formula.

 

No one will convince me it was more about addressing concerns from public schools over alleged recruiting by private schools, but I digress.

 

Even if it is for competitive balance, I am not a fan of four classes in basketball. Because of that, I am not a fan of four classes in any sports.

 

My reason mirrored that of DeMotto’s when asked about the system.

 

“I don’t feel that we’re big enough to have four classes. That’s my honest answer. I understand the desire and reason why, but anytime we try to do something to fix a problem we just potentially create another problem,” said DeMotto. “(This) may be advantageous for some schools, but on the other side it could be difficult for others. It’s hard to find the perfect system for all of this.

 

“The effort for competitive balance while noble, still has issues,” DeMotto continued. “For example, if a school is a large AAAA that has four middle schools feeding into it, that’s four schools with football, basketball, and all other sports prior to getting into high school. Compare that variable with schools in the same class with one middle school feeding it.”

 

The move to four classes in hoops came in 2020-21 and it was for a two-year trial period that just ended. The four classes will remain in basketball, both girls and boys. While some like it, there have been several disastrous games in the first rounds of the new format where teams are hopelessly overmatched and a handful of second round games.

 

While that has happened in the past, it seems more prevalent in the past two years than ever before. To me, while state title winners should still celebrate, the path getting there is not as difficult in four classes as compared to three.

 

Again, DeMotto and I found common ground here.

 

“The more classes you have in a small state the more it dilutes the achievement of any title,” said DeMotto. “I’d rather we look at numbers, divide it up and go play. Even if we do that, we will never find a perfect system. At the end of the day, none of us here are losing sleep over it.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows BHS Principal Matt DeMotto, while second photo is of Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Mark Jones.