Clairton Bears Historic Winning Streak Comes To End

CLAIRTON (KDKA) -- It began on Sept. 11, 2009, and it's been a source of pride for Clairton.

The Bears' 66-game winning streak is the longest ever in Pennsylvania high school football, but it all came to an end Friday night with a 42-24 upset right in Bears' territory.

The Monessen Greyhounds dominated the game early on, not allowing the Bears to even get on the board until the fourth quarter when they scored two touchdowns.

In the end though, it would not be enough for Clairton to keep their nationally-recognized winning streak alive.

Until Friday's loss, the Bears had the nation's longest-active winning streak.

The first team Clairton beat to begin the streak was Monessen. That was five years ago, making the victory all the sweeter for Monessen and the defeat all the more bitter for Clairton

"Clairton Bears, my hats off to you, but we had to end it," said Curtis Wade, a Monessen fan. "We've been watching you all for so long destroy us. We had to start from the bottom, now we're here."

"We're sad, but we know we'll be back," said Jeff Hamlin, a Clairton fan. "We're young this year; most of those guys are freshmen and sophomores. But we'll be back, for sure."

Monessen fans chanted "End the streak!" and "Go home, Bears!" as Clairton fans left the stands.

Also, a dozen police officers were brought in to help with crowd control because the two team are such bitter rivals.

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