A Run of a Lifetime

We at Clairton has been blessed with one of the greatest runs in Western Pennsylvania History. We've seen players come through the program like Dana Brown, Kevin Weatherspoon, Desimon Green, Trenton Coles, and Tyler Boyd these past 6-7 years.

What can I say about this program as of late other than WOW, or thats UNBELIEVABLE. Its easy to get caught up in the stats or the current winning streak or the streak of titles won in both the WPIAL and PIAA.

Heck the Bears went down to Texas and competed with schools twice the size of McKeesport and ended up in 2nd Place in a 7 on 7 tournament. I do understand that 7 on 7's aren't the best barometer of a program but to me this proved that Clairton, at least at the skill positions, are as good as any program in the entire nation.

It has been something hasn't it?

We all watch the news or see the negativity of our city on Facebook, Twitter, or in the daily papers. But we always have this football program to make us smile. For 2 and a half hours on Friday nights all that negativity is forgotten as we watch these kids play the game that they love.

But what we must remember is this run won't last forever. There is always the risk of the school closing down or the current run of phenomenal players runs dry. The latter is bound to happen. So lets enjoy this run while it lasts. Sometimes even I gets a little too arrogant when judging other schools after the Bears blow them out. I do think some of us fans has gotten a little spoiled. It happens. The Steelers and Penguins fan base are excellent examples of this.

I hear the 2A chatter. There was a time when I led the charge in this. Matt Popchock of 93.7 wrote an excellent article on this subject matter. In my opinion, with graduation this year, the Bears needs to add 25-30 more kids on top of the 25 kids left on the roster-which is about 7-8 more kids a class. Until then I don't think its a viable option. And thats rather unfortunate because its preventing players like Tyler Boyd from being challenged and taking his game to another level. 

And I do understand that Jeannette and Aliquippa has Single A Enrollment, but remember they never played Class A Ball and dropped from 3A to 2A in the late 80's early 90's.

Honestly, I do think the depth of Class A in the WPIAL and even the state is a little down. Other than maybe 1 or 2 teams, its just hard for even me to get up for conference or even playoff games. If the well runs dry by 2013, why punish that team by playing Keystone Oaks and South Fayette for the achievements of the 2008 through the 2011 teams.

The game against Sharpsville may be yet another blowout, or it could be the end of the 45 game winning streak. We'll find out Friday Night up at Slippery Rock University. The winner of the Clairton/ Sharpsville game will take on the winner of the Southern Columbia/ Penns Manor game next Friday at 1PM in Hershey PA.

Everybody from the Press, to fans of other schools, and Clairton fans themselves needs to simply enjoy the brilliance they're seeing in front of their eyes. This is one of the greatest runs in WPIAL history. Clairton isn't going 2A anytime soon and may simply close down in the very near future. Who knows what the future holds for the Bears. What we do know is that our Bears is primed for a 3rd State Championship.

On another note, on or around December 12th the enrollment figures will be released. Who knows which programs will drop to 1A or jump up to 2A. And around February the new conferences and schedule matrix's will be released for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.