A few weeks back, on June 22 to be exact, yours truly blogged about Bridgeport High School being the undisputed power in Class AA for the 2013-14 school year. Consider the school won what was thought to be an unprecedented five state titles in athletic competition, the fact the school won the Charleston Gazette’s Excellence In Sports Award, or GEISA, as the top-ranked ‘AA’ program in West Virginia probably came as no surprise.

 

In that blog I also was unable to definitely determined two things. One, was this past year the most school titles ever won by Bridgeport High School? And, two, was the feat of getting five titles in one year something ever accomplished before in Class AA or any classification for that matter?

 

I was more certain about the answer to the first question. I firmly believed it was the best year ever at Bridgeport High School athletically. As it turns out, I was correct.

 

While I would like to take credit for doing the lengthy research it would have taken to come to that conclusion and provide you with the answer that I now officially have for question number two, I’d be lying if I did that. I did what any person covering sports in West Virginia does when they have a historical question.

 

I turned to Doug Huff. For those that don’t know, Huff has been a mainstay in sports journalism in the Wheeling area for decades. He is, and I would concede that it’s not even arguable, the foremost authority on prep sports in the Mountain State.

 

With that in mind, I fired Doug off the question about where the five state titles ranked in state lore. I knew by answering the one question he would basically be answering both. And late last week I got the answer.

 

First, as mentioned above, the five titles have never been done by Bridgeport in one year. Which leads us to question two, which has anyone done it before or has anyone surpassed it.

 

The answer to both questions is yes. Ironically, what Huff was able to produce is that the athletic dominance that either matched Bridgeport or exceeded it has been done in the most recent years. Here’s the other thing – no other public school based on Huff’s research has won five state titles in one year.

 

Huff said that the standard setter in athletic dominance would be Class A Charleston Catholic. Get this: According to Huff, CCHS won at least five titles four straight years. In 2009-10, the school actually won six. The titles came in boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ tennis, golf and volleyball. The years the school won five titles were 2010-11 (two soccer, two tennis and volleyball); 2011-12 (two tennis, boys basketball, golf  and, boys soccer); and 2012-13 (two tennis, baseball, golf, and boys soccer).

 

The other school to get five is Wheeling Central. Huff said the school did the trick in 2007-08 and is the only school in West Virginia to win state titles in the same year in the state’s four oldest sports – football, boys’ basketball, baseball and boys track. WCHS also won a state title in girls’ basketball that season.

 

What that means is that Bridgeport is one of only three schools to ever win at least five titles in one school calendar year. The Indians managed to do something that’s only been completed six times in state history.

 

Of course, there are more WVSSAC sports recognized today than in decades past,  which may have something to do with the proliferation of the feat being done in recent years, but it still speaks volumes to just how dominant the Indians were this past year.

 

And it’s actual proof that the Indians helped make Bridgeport “Title Town” for the past school year. Now, it’s up to the student athletes to try and be able to keep that tag on the school and the city it represents.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo is of the Gazette Excellence in Sports Award found inside the BHS administrative offices, while the football team celebrates its 2013 state title. Bottom photo by Ben Queen of www.benqueenphotography.com.