Fort Bragg’s Lucas Triplett hauls in one of the 100 catches he had during junior season in 2015. He played QB last season. Photo: Brittaney Dondanville.
This school’s 2016 team was close to being a CIF state champion and its all-time win total is getting close to 500. And if it weren’t for one bad decade — the 1960s — we might be talking about Fort Bragg as one of the state’s top all-time small-school, small-town teams. Since we’re still getting requests from schools to do these archive projects, we’ll keep them going.
Up next in this series: Arroyo Grande. Perennial powers of the Central Coast region of the CIF Southern Section going to join other local schools with all-time football scores in one place. For more on the Cal-Hi Sports football archives project through the index card collection by legendary sports researcher Bruce McIntosh and how we can help your school, CLICK HERE. Note: One doesn’t have to be the football coach or AD to order this work.
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There has been a lot to brag about during the almost 100 years in which Fort Bragg High School has been fielding football teams.
The past two Timberwolve teams put up sensational offensive totals, led by 2016 graduate Kaylor Sullivan and Class of 2017’s Lucas Triplett, but the history of the program runs much deeper. In the 1930s, Fort Bragg went 49-9-9 under head coach Andy Anderson, which included three straight unbeaten seasons from 1931 to 1933. The 1955 squad went 9-0 and appears in the Cal-Hi Sports state record book as the 1955 Class B State Team of the Year. Then there are the years from 1979 through 2010 when the Timberwolves were led by Jack Moyer, one of the most successful coaches ever in the Redwood Empire region of the CIF North Coast Section.
Fort Bragg QB Kaylor Sullivan almost had three 500-yard games during 2015 season. Photo: Brittaney Dondanville.
Even before Andy Anderson’s team started rolling in the 1930s, Fort Bragg had an unbeaten team at 6-0-1 in 1925 and then a 5-1 team in 1926. The team also had an unbeaten team in the 1940s, another unbeaten team in the 1950s besides the one in 1955 and wasn’t exactly putting out bad teams in the 1970s before Jack Moyer started coaching.
The 1960s, however, were not good, to put it mildly. The Timberwolves suffered through two winless seasons, two other one-win seasons and went only 25-59-1 (not including forfeits). If the 1960s had only been close a .500 record, it’s for sure that Fort Bragg already would be at more than 500 wins for its all-time record. The team’s all-time winning percentage, which we calculated at 62.9 percent even with the 1960s added in, also would be much higher, perhaps among the top 20 in state history.
Current Fort Bragg assistant coach Justin Sipila has been working on building much information on the school’s history. He has a record compiled from the Fort Bragg Advocate-News of 494 all-time wins. The total from the card files that Cal-Hi Sports has is 488 (counting forfeit) and 483 (not counting forfeits). If the school itself goes with the higher total at some point, it would be accepted for state record purposes because it’s not actually that far off from the card files total and often it is impossible to know for sure about games played 80 and 90 years ago.
Moyer had two teams during his 34-year career that especially stood out. His 1995 squad went 11-0 and won its third straight CIF North Coast Section Class A title with a 14-6 triumph against Kelseyville. The team lost its first two games the following season, but bounced back to win a fourth straight NCS title with a 21-0 shutout of Cloverdale. The Timberwolves also had a memorable run to the 2009 NCS Division IV title when they got past the formidable trio of Ferndale, Salesian of Richmond and Justin-Siena of Napa in three straight weeks. Salesian had ended their season in 2008 with a 42-7 playoff loss.
In the last two seasons, under head coach Roy Perkins (who previously was a longtime assistant under Moyer), Fort Bragg has become known for its prolific offense.
The 2015 team was sitting at 10-0 heading into the NCS playoffs behind Sullivan, the quarterback and Triplett, the receiver. Fort Bragg was classified in the same playoff division, however, as powerhouse parochial school Marin Catholic and had no chance in a 49-0 loss. Sullivan still wound up with 4,192 yards passing and 49 TDs while Triplett had 100 catches for 1,402 yards and 19 scores.
Last season, the Timberwolves were more correctly classified in Division V by the NCS and weren’t in the same division as Marin Catholic or Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa (instead it was St. Bernard’s of Eureka that had to play higher). Triplett switched from receiver and quarterback and put up monster totals of 2,652 yards passing (25 TDs) and 1,104 yards rushing (10 TDs). Senior Tysyn Strickland also rushed for 1,745 yards, scored 25 TDs and caught 43 passes for 596 yards. The team went to the NCS D5 final where it faced St. Patrick-St. Vincent of Vallejo and lost in a high-scoring 49-35 battle. Since that team went on to win the CIF Division 6A title two weeks later, you could say that Fort Bragg was close to being a runner-up for that crown.
Jack Moyer guided Fort Bragg to seven CIF North Coast Section championships during a 34-year career that ended after the 2010 season. Photo: Mendo Lake Family Life Magazine.
WIN-LOSS RECORDS FOR EACH DECADE
1920s: 26-12-3 (three wins by forfeit not included)
1930s: 47-9-9 (two wins by forfeit not included)
1940s: 25-20-2
1950s: 46-35-3
1960s: 25-59-1
1970s: 67-19-1
1980s: 54-32-2
1990s: 68-37-0
2000s: 65-37-4
2010s: 60-21-0
REPORTED ALL-TIME RECORD
AFTER 2016 SEASON:
483 WINS, 280 LOSSES, 24 TIES*
*Note: Does not include three wins by forfeit in 1920s and two wins by forfeit in 1930s. Counting those results, records would be 29-12-3 for 1920s, 49-9-9 for 1930s and 488-280-24 for overall.
62.9 ALL-TIME WINNING PERCENTAGE
(Based on half-win, half-loss for tie)
Best Records For Single Season
11-0 – 1995
10-0 – 1979
9-0 – 1955
8-0 – 1931
7-0 – 1945
11-1 – 2015
Worst Records For Single Season
0-9 – 1967
0-8 – 1965
0-3 – 1940
1-8 – 1963
1-6 – 1964
1-6 – 1988
Records Against Notable Opponents
55-19-0 VS. Willits (first game on field 1928)
46-14-3 VS. Clear Lake (Lakeport) (first game on field 1928)
31-11-1 VS. Lower Lake
26-12-0 VS. St. Helena
16-8-1 VS. Upper Lake (first game on field 1929)
12-10-1 VS. Ferndale
Most Points Scored (Single Game)
85 VS. Clear Lake (Lakeport) 1955
81 VS. Willits 1931
81 VS. Willits 2015
70 VS. St. Vincent (Petaluma) 2009
69 VS. Upper Lake 1930
68 VS. Richmond 2009
66 VS. Upper Lake 2009
62 VS. Kelseyville 2008
62 VS. Lower Lake 2008
59 VS. Point Arena 1979
57 VS. Kelseyville 2015
56 VS. Calif. School for Deaf (Fremont) 2007
56 VS. Willits 2009
55 VS. St. Helena 1984
55 VS. Lower Lake 2002
55 VS. Encina (Sacramento) 2014
54 VS. Mendocino 1929
54 VS. South Fork (Miranda) 2015
54 VS. Lower Lake 2015
Most Lopsided Wins
81-0 VS. Willits 1931
81-0 VS. Willits 2015
69-0 VS. Upper Lake 1930
85-19 VS. Clear Lake (Lakeport) 1955
66-0 VS. Upper Lake 2009
68-8 VS. Richmond 2009
59-0 VS. Point Arena 1979
62-6 VS. Lower Lake 2008
55-0 VS. Lower Lake 2002
55-0 VS. Encina (Sacramento) 2014
54-0 VS. Mendocino 1929
53-0 VS. Clear Lake (Lakeport) 1932
52-0 VS. Mendocino 1982
52-0 VS. Elsie Allen (Santa Rosa) 1995
51-0 VS. Pierce (Arbuckle) 1934
Most Points Allowed (Single Game)
59 VS. Red Bluff 1956
57 VS. St. Helena 2011
57 VS. Galileo (San Francisco) 2013
56 VS. Franklin (Stockton) 1994
55 VS. Hoopa Valley (Hoopa) 1997
53 VS. Kelseyville 2006
49 VS. San Marin (Novato) 2001
49 VS. Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 2015
48 VS. Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 1968
48 VS. St. Helena 1975
Most Lopsided Losses
59-0 VS. Red Bluff 1956
57-0 VS. St. Helena 2011
49-0 VS. Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 2015
48-0 VS. Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 1968
Longest Winning Streaks
15 – 1978 to 1980 (won last three, then 10-0 season, then won first two)
13 – 1994 to 1995 (won last two, then 11-0 season, lost first game in 1996)
12 – 2009 to 2010 (won last six, then first six)
11 – 1931 to 1932 (had 8-0 season, then won first three before tie)*
*Note: Fort Bragg went on to have another tie in a 19-0-2 unbeaten streak that went from 1931 to 1934. THere also are three other 11-game win streaks in school history.
Longest Losing Streaks
12 – 1967 to 1968 (had 0-9 season, then lost first three)
12 – 1964 to 1966 (lost last three, then 0-8 season, then lost first game of 1966)
10 – 1963 to 1964 (lost last seven, then first three)*
*Note: The 12-game losing streak from 1964 to 1966 immediately came after the only win during 1964 season.
Stockton office assistant editor Paul Muyskens also contributed to this post and thanks of course to Bruce McIntosh. Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
One Comment
I coached at Lower Lake in 1997, and our team deferred on the coin toss and undefeated 4 time section champion Fort Bragg chose to kick off to us on a cold drizzly Saturday, the last game of the season. The new stadium was under construction so we were at the crappy old High School Field on a Saturday. Halftime score was 0-0. We chose to receive the second half, and the FB dads started yelling and throwing beer cans on the field lol. We ran the second kickoff back for a TD and won 6-0, shutting out the 4 time section champs in their house and ruining their unblemished record. The result was a 3 way tie for league champs. Lower Lake has never been the same since.