Who do the nearly 1,000 people that voted in a recent poll on Connect-Bridgeport believe is the best football state championship team in school history?

 

For nearly eight days, the poll turned into a two-team race. And as it turned out, the “recency bias” yours truly feared would dominate the voting did not materialize.

 

Not that it would have mattered. As noted, this is just for fun, there are no prizes, and it does not make one team’s championship more important or another’s less significant. It is, as my friend Doug Marquette pointed out, something to be celebrated that Bridgeport High School has such a storied history in high school football.

 

With that disclaimer out of the way, every single team received a plethora of votes. Yet, it was the 1979 team and the 2024 team that went head-to-head in the poll. And for those paying attention, it was the 1979 team that won this poll after the 2015 state championship season and prior to the 2019 and 2024 state championship teams.

 

So, who won the latest poll?

 

The honor goes to the 2024 team. And by almost the slimmest of margins.

 

The final totals?

 

The 2024 team had 312 votes in the poll. The 1979 team finished with 310 votes. Percentage wise, each garnered nearly a third of the vote, with the 2024 BHS squad at 32.5 percent and ’79 just under that.

 

For those who would say it is because it is the most recent, you may want to put on the brakes. And honestly, I do not know if anyone would say this selection cannot be argued.

 

The team finished 14-0 and no team came closer than three touchdowns in a single game for fourth-year Coach Tyler Phares’ squad. Phares,  who introduced the single-wing offense, still heavy on run and utilizing the stick-I and power pistol blocking schemes in homage to the past, trotted out a team so dominant on offense this year that maybe the only team that could stop the offense was its own defense.

 

Do you want dominance? Bridgeport’s 57.2 points per game was the most in school history and, according to MaxPreps, the third highest scoring average in the nation.

 

Defensively, yes, rather good, too, yielding just eight points a contest and the majority of that came against reserves as the Indians pulled off another unique trick – every single game ended in a running clock. That held true in the title game where BHS rolled Herbert Hoover in the Tribe’s return to Laidley Field in Charleston by a 49-7 score.

 

There are other insane statistics with this team. In fact, there are so many numbers and many talented players that listing them all or singling one out would require the amount of space that would test the confines of the unlimited space of the internet.

 

As for the runner-up, the 1979 Class AAA state champion being in the running is certainly worthy. Like the 1972 team that won the state championship, the squad opted to play up in classification. The 1972 and 1979 squads would be the only two state championship teams on the list. Another thing the 1979 squad had in common with the ’72 unit – defense. The team posted eight shutouts while going 13-0 and allowed a mind-numbing total of 2.76 points per game.

 

The team walked away with the championship with a 20-7 win against St. Albans. And they also pulled off one of the biggest upsets in playoff history by toppling Parkersburg by a 7-6 score in the Class AAA semifinals in a game that was played in front of a capacity crowd at Hite Field and featured one of the greatest catches – yes catches – in BHS football history.

 

As for any recency bias, the unscientific results show that probably was not the case. Finishing in third place was the 1955 squad coached by John Murphy who led the Indians to the first state championship in school history. The team earned just under 9 percent of the vote total.

 

In fourth place was the 1986 squad with nearly 7.5 percent of the vote. The team would be the third state championship team for the legendary Coach Wayne “Smiley” Jamison. It would be the first he would win in Class AA.

 

The rest of the voting was relatively close with every team receiving at least 2 percent of the votes. And unlike the past polls, this one – at least in the time leading up to this blog – did not feature any petty arguing or statements questioning the validity of the results or picking the best at the expense of others.

 

Finally, it appears everyone got it. And it the numbers say that most of those that voted here give the all-time crown as the “best of the best” to the 2024 team.

 

As Doug Marquette stated, be glad the program is good enough to even allow for something of this nature. Hopefully, we can revisit this topic with a new addition or two soon.

 

Click HERE to read the blog that has capsule summaries - including much of the information about the top two teams here - in a blog that previously ran on Connect-Bridgeport announcing the unscientific poll.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Alex Moses breaking up a pass in the Class AAA state title game this year, followed by Stydahar Winner as state's best lineman Wes Brown being introduced for the title game with Herbert Hoover in Charleston. Third image shows Brad Minetree going up for one of the greatest catches in BHS history in the 1979 Class AAA semifinal contest at Hite Field against Parkersburg. Bottom photo shows quarterback Bobby Marra on the sidelines with legendary BHS Coach Wayne Jamison. Top two photos by Joe LaRocca. Bottom two photos were provided in the past courtesy of former BHS Journalism educator Alice Rowe.