From the Bench: In Case You Missed it, Rewinding to Moment Affirming BHS as Top Program in Class AAA
By Jeff Toquinto on September 13, 2026 from Sports Blog
It may have gone under the radar. Considering that it took place prior to the heavily hyped football contest between Bridgeport and Martinsburg on Sept. 4, it is understandable.
Shortly before kickoff, Bridgeport High School Principal Renee Mathews and Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Tom Sears ventured on to the field. West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission Executive Director Wayne Ryan and Assistant Executive Director 
Chris Wells joined them.
Chris Wells joined them.
Pre-game ceremonies involving the administration are not unusual. Pre-game ceremonies involving the WVSSAC are a bit more uncommon.
Last Friday, Sept. 4, that uncommon visit onto the playing surface of Wayne Jamison Field was a good thing. On the sports front, it was a grandiose thing.
Ryan and Wells were on hand to present the Health Plan Champions Cup to the Indians. There are two for all four classifications in West Virginia – one for girls, one for boys. Bridgeport took home the Champions Cup in both boys and girls for Class AAA.
This was not breaking news. The announcement was made at the end of the last school year and reported on Connect-Bridgeport. In fact, if you want to get down to it, winning it and contending for it about every year of its existence is also not huge news.
What it should be, however, is a reminder. A reminder of just how strong the Bridgeport High School athletic program is across the board and how long it has been the case. It is also a reminder that no one should take success for granted and how it happens.
“Receiving those awards was such a tremendous honor because it reveals to the state what we already know about our student-athletes and our coaches, and that is that they’re top notch in every way,” said Sears. “Although Mrs. Mathews and I accepted the awards, it
belongs to our student-athletes. It is a testament to their accomplishments and meeting the standard that is embedded in the sports programs and the community.”
belongs to our student-athletes. It is a testament to their accomplishments and meeting the standard that is embedded in the sports programs and the community.”
Last year was indeed impressive. Particularly for the boys programs. Bridgeport ran away with the top spot on the boy side scoring points in nine of the 10 sanctioned sports. The Indians finished with 977.5 points on the year.
BHS took the state title in soccer and posted three runner-up finishes during the year in cross country, swimming, and track. The Indians were semifinalists in baseball and basketball, were quarterfinalists in football, and finished fifth in golf and sixth in wrestling.
How big of a win was it? Winfield was the runner-up with 583.5 points.
Like the boys, the girls managed one state title and had strong finishes that gave them the Cup by a narrow margin. Bridgeport took the top spot finishing with 684 points, just ahead of Herbert Hoover’s total of 679.
The Indians opened the year with a championship in cross country and added a semifinal finish in soccer along with an appearance in the quarterfinals in volleyball to round out the fall. Bridgeport took runner-up in cheerleading and finished fourth in swimming and closed the year with a fifth-place finish in track.
Considering the programs stacked in Class AAA, last year’s success was impressive.
“I think when you take a look at Class AAA, there are so many talented teams and athletes that make up stellar programs in the state that to win both is a testament to the effort of our student-athletes,” said Sears. “Being around the program every day for the past several years I, and the people in the community who have been around, get to see the effort our student-athletes put in.
“Those titles weren’t earned in a single competition or a season where things fell into place. Those titles were earned off the field,” Sears continued. “It’s in the offseason with the flex days, with the conditioning, with the weight training. It’s doing the training when the opposition might not be, and doing it continually, that allowed for this to happen.”
Sears pointed to another thing that most who follow the program point to for success. While you need to have the athletes and you need to work at it, you also need to have the crossover between the lights of competition to the lights in the classroom.
“I think in most cases when you have a student-athlete successful on the sports side of things you’re going to find the same type of success in the classroom. It goes hand in hand,” Sears said. “Our administrative team, led by Mrs. Mathews, takes our academics serious. It’s clear that this administration and past administrations know the academics must come first and athletics second. I think it’s also clear that the formula is working.”
Good enough for the Cup honor to be earned again this year? It would not be the first time.
At the end of 2019-20 school year, the girls program was tops in the state and the boys were second. At that time, it was called the
WVSSAC MVB (Bank) Champions Cup. And prior to getting a first and a second, the Indians won the MVB Cup the first two years of existence.
WVSSAC MVB (Bank) Champions Cup. And prior to getting a first and a second, the Indians won the MVB Cup the first two years of existence.
There was also the Gazette-Mail Excellence in Sports Awards. The award is no longer given, but when it did, the Indians dominated it. In fact, when the Tribe returned to Class AA (at that time there were only three classifications) in following the 2011-12 school calendar year, Bridgeport won the honor for seven straight years, which are believed to be the last seven years the program existed.
Sears thinks the Indians are in a solid position for another run with the still relatively new Champions Cup. With several programs looking solid in the fall from football to boys soccer to golf and girls cross country and plenty of others, his thoughts are not hyperbole.
“I told Wayne Ryan I’d like to give the cup a permanent home. That’s the goal, right? This is year four for me and Bridgeport athletics is poised this year, at least I feel it, to be in a better place than all those previous years,” said Sears. “The teams seem, across the board, prepared to compete at the highest level in most sports. It’s a challenge, but I don’t think any of our student athletes, or coaches, mind seeing that challenge laid in front of them.”
History says they do not. When it comes to Bridgeport High School athletics, championships and expectations are always on the radar.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Renee Mathews, second from right, receiving one of the two Champions Cup awards from Wayne Ryan, far right, while Tom Sears, second from left, receives the other award from Chris Wells. Second photo shows last year's boys state soccer champions and the third is the girls cross country champions. In the bottom photo former BHS Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Mark Jones, second from left, and former Principal Matt DeMotto, third from left, hoist the Cups after winning them in the 2018-19 season as WVSSAC officials look on.
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