Gameday T-Shirts Hope to "End the Streak"

The biggest local sporting event of the year has been played on fall Saturdays almost every year for longer than most football fans have been alive.

Since the 1920s Harrison and Rye have battled it out in a backyard rivalry that many rank as the best high school sporting event in New York State and beyond. The last eight years haven't been kind to Husky fans, as the Garnets of Rye have won every game since 2002, including at Rye.

In an effort to put that run to an end, the Harrison Booster Club is selling maroon and white shirts reading "The Streak Ends Here", for fans to wear as they cheer on the Huskies Saturday afternoon.

"The students were really trying to come up with something kind of catchy," said Denise Murphy, who is selling the shirts from her home in Harrison. "Something to get out there in a way to kind of start up the rivalry and get everything ready for the game."

Since announcing the shirts through e-mails on Friday, 100 shirts have already been sold. Orders have been placed for hundreds more, as the booster club hopes to fill Harrison's McGillicuddy Stadium with as much maroon as possible.

"I'm hoping to literally saturate as many people as we can during the game," Murphy said with a laugh, urging people to wear the maroon shirts over sweatshirts and jackets in the event of cold weather.

Murphy, who has been at every Harrison-Rye game for more than 25 years, said she, like most Harrison fans, is already excited for Saturday’s game that traditionally draws thousands of fans from both schools.

"It's a really big deal," she said. "When it comes to Rye it's a totally different element, records to me don't matter."

The shirts themselves were put together by a group of parents and students who shared their input over the last several months. The back reads "This Is Our House", in reference to the first Rye game at Harrison's new stadium. They cost $13 with all proceeds going toward the Harrison football team.

Regardless of the final outcome Saturday, Murphy, and everyone else planning on attending Saturday's game, expects one of the best atmospheres for a high school football game you'll find anywhere in the region.

"Harrison is nuts over this and I know Rye is equally as crazy over it," Murphy said. "They really want the streak to stop, they can't believe there's been an eight year run."

Will this be the year that "the streak" finally comes to an end? We'll find out on Saturday.

To order a "The Streak Ends Here" T-shirt contact Denise Muprhy at 914-906-1041, or at dmuprh@us.ibm.com.