The 2024 Bridgeport High School football schedule was done last week. Then, it was undone. And there is a chance, as you are reading this, that it is done again.

 

Such is the life of high school football scheduling. First-year BHS Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Tom Sears knows that all too well from his time doing the AD duties at South Harrison High School.

 

Bridgeport this year, however, is a different animal. The Indians are essentially in a new classification, although they are still Class AAA. The reason it is new is because there are now four classifications in the state, so the Indians go from the big-school classification to the next-to-the-big-school classification this year.

 

With that comes a few schedule changes. What also comes to Bridgeport this year is a schedule that has six home games locked in. The open week that needed filled week four.

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“We had a full scheduled as of last week,” said Sears. “I was notified (Thursday, Jan. 18) that one of the teams had dropped us.”

 

The team was to have been a new one on the schedule. In fact, it was a southern team that would be Class AAA under the new guidelines – and the two had never met in the regular season before. That is all I got, but it is not happening.

 

“I feel pretty good where we are right now with the schedule and I’m confident we’ll find that 10^th game,” said Sears. “I think maybe the most challenging part is that a potential opponent starts with verbal and then it goes to a contract. Sometimes in working the deal from the verbal to the contract portion something happens. It happened here … It’s disappointing.”

 

Sears confidence about finding game 10 is not hyperbole. When asking if he wanted this blog to include contact information to fill that week, he said he was certain it would not be necessary. That tells me he had a contingency plan and that there is another thing that makes adding Bridgeport attractive.

 

“We’re offering to go the road to give an opponent a home game for 2024. That’s a good bargaining chip to have for a team looking for a home game,” said Sears.

 

As for new opponents, there is one – at the moment – on the roster. East Fairmont will return to the slate in 2024. The two teams have played one another 55 times, the last time being in 2018 with the Tribe getting a 48-0 win. The first game? That was played in 1922 and East Fairmont took a 19-7 win.

 

So, what does the schedule look like?

 

Week 1: Buckhannon-Upshur

Week 2: @ Morgantown

Week 3: East Fairmont

Week 4: LOOKING TO FILL

Week 5: Robert C. Byrd

Week 6: Brooke

Week 7:  @Parkersburg South

Week 8: Preston

Week 9: OPEN

Week 10: @ Fairmont Senior

Week 11: Lincoln

 

One new team, but a few scheduling changes. The most notable is the moving of Fairmont Senior from near the beginning of the season to nearing the end. The Polar Bears and the Indians have been one of the most intense matchups for more than a decade on the football field and adding some late-season flavor to it may spice things up.

 

“Six home games make for a nice schedule,” said Sears. “We think we already have a good schedule and when we officially wrap it up, it will be even better.”

 

Expect more changes in 2025. A new Big 10 Conference proposal that was approved for football will shake things up again, but more on that, as well as a finalized schedule perhaps as early as next week.

 

Editor's Note: Athletic Director Tom Sears, left, talks with Brian Ayoob following a recent BHS boys basketball game. Bottom two photos of Josh Love and Wes Brown, respectively, will be back for the 2024 season against the schedule that will be put in place. Photos by Joe LaRocca. Cover photo by Ben Queen of Ben Queen Photography.