From the Bench: Greatest Indians State Title Football Team Ever? Have Fun and Vote in Unscientific Poll
By Jeff Toquinto on January 26, 2025 from Sports Blog
We did this before. Actually, we did this about a decade ago – in January of 2016 to be exact. Thousands of folks participated, and 99.9 percent had fun with it.
We are about to do it again. And I will substantially preface it, even more so than last time, that what is taking place is for big fun, or rather, BIG fun. The end result is not factual. It is not scientific. Heck, it is not immune to folks finding a way to continue to vote multiple times because some may think it truly matters. It does not. It is for fun.
Once again, we are going to run a poll on what Bridgeport High School state championship winning football team you believe is the best 
ever. As the author, I understand there are teams from many years ago, when the playoff field was limited to four or even two teams that Bridgeport got left out – including one really bad omission. That said, we are leaving it to the state championship teams.
ever. As the author, I understand there are teams from many years ago, when the playoff field was limited to four or even two teams that Bridgeport got left out – including one really bad omission. That said, we are leaving it to the state championship teams.
There are 11 choices that will be included in the poll that went up this morning on Connect-Bridgeport. It will run for longer than a week with the results eventually being reported on the Web site.
What follows is a brief summary of the teams, their records, and the final score of the championship round victories.
1955: A big one in a sense that it was the first one. Coach John Murphy’s 1955 team won the Class A championship (the classifications were different in 1955) with a 9-1 record. The school’s first championship season ended with a 39-13 win against Webster Springs in the state title game.
Murphy, who has since passed away, was on hand at BHS in 2005 when the program celebrated “50 Years of Indians Football.” It was an event recognizing the 50-year anniversary of the first-ever state championship in school history.
1972: The beginning of the Wayne Jamison Era in football. The team certainly had – and still has – the credentials for bragging rights, with the fact they played up in Class AAA despite being classified Class AA as just one component. The others include the team finishing their 10-0 regular season with seven shutouts and only allowing 25 points total during that run as one of several other key reasons. Philip Barbour was the only team during the regular season to hit double digits and did so in a 44-14 setback. That means for the nine other games, the team allowed just over one point a contest.
When the postseason arrived, it was just a four-team format. The Indians won 18-15 against Saint Albans and 16-14 against DuPont in the Class AAA state title game. It also cemented the legacy of excellence that was to come.
1979: Like the 1972 team, the squad opted to play up in classification. The 1972 and 1979 squads would be the only two teams on the list that opted to play up and go on to win a state championship. 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 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.
1986: State title number four came in a year where the Indians would suffer a regular season loss to long-time foe Fairmont Senior by a 13-6 score. However, it would not stop the Indians. The Tribe, once again, had a pretty solid defensive unit to back the stick-I offense that was now a trademark of the program that would continue for decades.
The squad went 12-1 and posted five shutouts. It did not allow any team to score more than 13 points against them. Eventually, the 
Indians would secure the crown in a defensive slugfest against fellow Class AA power at the time Tucker County. Bridgeport would win the game at Laidley Field by a 10-7 score.
Indians would secure the crown in a defensive slugfest against fellow Class AA power at the time Tucker County. Bridgeport would win the game at Laidley Field by a 10-7 score.
1988: Here is a hill I will die on. You can debate what state title team is the best, but you cannot debate which title game was the best. There have been plenty of great ones, but a four-overtime championship win with the state’s most conservative coach successfully going for a fake two-point conversion pass (gutsiets play call ever in my opinion) on the point-after try in the fourth OT to win it is considered by most football savants to be the best state title game in state history, not just BHS.
Defense, again, was the methodology behind the winning with the team getting seven shutouts in the 13-0 season. The year, which included a 14-13 overtime win against East Fairmont, concluded with the 29-28 four overtime classic win at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown against Winfield.
2001: Although non-losing seasons continued, championships were not on the radar after 1988. The 2001 squad, coached by Bruce Carey, not only reinstated the championship process, but was the first in school history to finish the year at 14-0.
Although the defense was strong, earning a pair of shutouts, the offense posted nearly 37 points per game as the time-chewing stick-I went many times from four-yards and a cloud of dust to a 50-yard touchdown run as the Tribe’s bevy of talented backs and line crushed opposing teams’ wills. Outside of a 14-6 title game win against Wayne, the Indians survived a 7-6 battle against then Class AAA Robert C. Byrd that had arguably its best team ever that proved to be a threat for the ‘AAA’ state title that year.
2013: The beginning of the greatest three-year run in Bridgeport High School football history. Coach Josh Nicewarner’s squad started the year 1-1 after a 17-14 loss to Class AAA power Wheeling Park before closing the season with 12 straight wins that included another all-time great title game win against Wayne by a 14-13 score in a driving snowstorm at Wheeling Island Stadium.
The team posted five shutouts that season. It also was the debut season of the “power pistol.” A shotgun formation that utilized essentially the same blocking schemes, and still was almost exclusively all runs, but opened up more options. It worked, as the team averaged 43.5 points per game.
2014: The middle rung in the BHS hat trick of championships in the mid-2010s. Like its predecessor in 2013, the team went 13-1 on the year. And like the previous season, the only loss was to Wheeling Park – this time by a 14-10 score – before reeling off 12 straight wins.
The team started out a bit slow with a 38-7 win over Buckhannon-Upshur, the loss to Wheeling Park, and a 14-7 win against Lewis County before beginning to roll. And the real dominance began when it counted the most, and that was in the playoffs. BHS steamrolled Liberty Raleigh (50-14), a high-end RCB squad (35-14), Wayne (48-7), and Frankfort (43-7). The lone shutout that season was against East Fairmont (41-0), but the defense was solid as no team scored more than 14 points against the 
Indians.
Indians.
2015: What made this unique is the team finished the year beyond the third-straight championship, was a 13-0-1 record. The tie was actually a suspended game due to weather at Jamison Field against Wheeling Park. The score was 0-0 at the time of the suspension after BHS fumbled the ball going in for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive. The result would have been interesting as Wheeling Park would win the Class AAA title that year.
Even with the tie, the team not only was never beaten, but did it against a schedule that included a premier Fairmont Senior and Robert C. Byrd team. The Tribe would have to beat those teams in the regular season and again in the postseason with FSHS giving the Indians a semifinal battle that Bridgeport would win 28-20. The club then pulled off a first in Tribe title history by posting a shutout – 39-0 – against Tolsia in the Class AA title game at Wheeling Island.
2019: Coach John Cole’s decision that led to a temporary takeover of the head coaching position also led to a 10th state championship. The season was unique in that it featured primarily the power pistol but would see the team occasionally rely heavily on the old stick-I as power backs were more plentiful than speed. The philosophy would pay dividends in the postseason for the 13-1 Tribe whose only loss was a 34-15 setback to Fairmont Senior.
The Indians would face off against a Bluefield team in Wheeling that had eliminated the Tribe the previous two years in the Class AA
semifinals. Due to the gifted Bluefield squad that featured a slew of athletes, few prognosticators gave the Tribe a chance. That changed when Cole came out in the stick-I and essentially pounded the football down the throats of the Beavers in a game that would have had the late coach Wayne Jamison smiling from ear to ear. BHS would win 21-14.
semifinals. Due to the gifted Bluefield squad that featured a slew of athletes, few prognosticators gave the Tribe a chance. That changed when Cole came out in the stick-I and essentially pounded the football down the throats of the Beavers in a game that would have had the late coach Wayne Jamison smiling from ear to ear. BHS would win 21-14.
2024: It is totally understandable for some to say that picking the 2024 squad would be recency bias. Then the numbers would say otherwise. The team finished 14-0 and no team came closer than three touchdowns in a single game for fourth-year Coach Tyler Phares’ squad. It was Phares who introduced the single-wing offense, similar to its predecessors in being run heavy and blocking schemes, but had some saying it would not lead to dominance.
Those few naysayers were wrong. Do you want dominance? The 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 return to Laidley Field in Charleston by a 49-7 score.
There you have it. Take your pick on the poll listed on the right side of the home page of Connect-Bridgeport. Just scroll down.
And remember, for those who will scream “why do you have to choose?” You do not have to choose. Or, you can have fun with something that is an opinion only.
This poll is like those old parlay cards that had the wording at the bottom of them “For Entertainment Purposes Only.” Or so I have been told.
