Category: Howe News Bulletin

Photos by Michelle Carney

Pregame Notes Below

Howe’s overall record is 376-337-24
Season: 73 Game: 738

The 54th Battle of the Silver Spike
Van Alstyne owns the series record, 34-17-2 and have won nine consecutive games dating back to 2000.

Bring your headphones to the game and tune in to 99.9 FM
(inside the stadium only)

10/24/1941	7	at Van Alstyne	31
11/5/1942	6	at Van Alstyne	7
9/29/1944	0	at Van Alstyne	25
9/21/1945	13	Van Alstyne	0
11/2/1946	26	at Van Alstyne	0
10/31/1947	0	at Van Alstyne	7
10/21/1948	0	at Van Alstyne	48
9/8/1961	0	at Van Alstyne	14
9/7/1962	12	Van Alstyne	30
9/6/1963	0	at Van Alstyne	36
10/9/1964	2	Van Alstyne	40
10/8/1965	6	at Van Alstyne	45
10/2/1970	33	Van Alstyne	20
10/1/1971	8	at Van Alstyne	7
10/20/1972	12	Van Alstyne	40
10/19/1973	0	at Van Alstyne	19
10/18/1974	0	at Van Alstyne	0
10/17/1975	6	Van Alstyne	22
10/22/1976	2	Van Alstyne	26
10/21/1977	22	at Van Alstyne	21
10/13/1978	28	Van Alstyne	12
10/12/1979	40	at Van Alstyne	0
10/31/1980	23	at Van Alstyne	7
10/30/1981	12	Van Alstyne	20
10/29/1982	21	at Van Alstyne	21
10/28/1983	21	Van Alstyne	27
11/9/1984	6	Van Alstyne	15
11/8/1985	35	at Van Alstyne	0
9/12/1986	19	Van Alstyne	22
9/11/1987	21	at Van Alstyne	6
10/28/1988	19	Van Alstyne	6
11/3/1989	35	at Van Alstyne	13
9/14/1990	6	at Van Alstyne	12
9/13/1991	3	Van Alstyne	13
11/15/1991	8	Van Alstyne – Bi-District	30
9/4/1992	20	Van Alstyne	71
9/3/1993	0	at Van Alstyne	23
11/4/1994	19	at Van Alstyne	13
11/10/1995	7	Van Alstyne	6
10/11/1996	0	at Van Alstyne	35
10/10/1997	14	Van Alstyne	26
10/9/1998	41	Van Alstyne	13
10/8/1999	27	at Van Alstyne	17
10/20/2000	14	at Van Alstyne	10
10/19/2001	0	Van Alstyne	33
9/13/2002	7	at Van Alstyne	28
9/12/2003	7	Van Alstyne	32
9/10/2004	2	at Van Alstyne	42
9/9/2005	20	Van Alstyne	21
9/12/2008	6	at Van Alstyne	48
9/11/2009	6	Van Alstyne	35
11/2/2012	15	at Van Alstyne	42
11/1/2013	7	Van Alstyne	31

Battle of the Silver Spike Records (as of 6/27/2014)
Most points scored by Howe	41	10/9/1998	at Howe (41-13)
Most points scored by Van Alstyne	71	9/4/1992	at Howe (71-20)
Most combined points in a game	91	9/4/1992	71-20 Van Alstyne
Howe Wins	17
Van Alstyne Wins	34
Total Ties	2
Total shutouts by Howe	5
Total shutouts by Van Alstyne	10
Last shutout by Howe		11/8/1985	at Van Alstyne (35-0)
Last shutout by Van Alstyne		10/19/2001	at Howe (33-0)
Most overall points scored by Howe	664
Most overall points scored by Van Alstyne	1168
Most wins by a Howe head coach	4	1985, 1987, 1988, 1989	Jim Fryar
Most losses by a head coach	6	1964, 65, 72, 73, 74, 75	Norman Dickey
Consecutive wins by Howe	4	1977-1980
Consecutive wins by Van Alstyne	9	1947-65; 2001-2013
Howe’s record at Bulldog Stadium		6-17-0
Howe’s record at Panther Stadium		11-16-0
Howe’s record at a Neutral site		0-1 (Bi-District)	Clark Stadium, Plano, TX – 11/15/1991

Howe is 10-15-1 vs. Van Alstyne in October
Largest margin of victory for Howe = 40 in 1979 at Van Alstyne
Largest margin of victory for Van Alstyne = 51 in 1992 at Howe

Most rushing yards vs. Van Alstyne (missing 1979 game, which is possible):
360, 1985
359, 1986
324, 1989
303, 1998

Most rushing yards vs. Howe:
396, 2008
370, 1984
326, 2005
323, 1961
323, 1965
The first Silver Spike 

1988 Adam Coffey makes a perfect tackle in the 31st Battle of the Silver Spike

1989 Full Game of the 32nd Silver Spike at Van Alstyne

1990 Full Game of the 33rd Silver SPike at Van Alsytne

1991 Full Game of 34th Silver Spike at Bulldog Stadium in Howe

1998 Full Game of 42nd Silver Spike at Bulldog Stadium

The Silver Spike trophy was the brainchild back in 2001 by sports writer Jeff Wood of the Van Alstyne Leader and Howe graduate Monte Walker. The winner of the Howe and Van Alstyne football rivalry receives a silver railroad spike, mounted on a three-foot trophy to keep in their trophy case for an entire year. Howe has yet to have it since its creation. The tall and heavy trophy features the silver spike which symbolizes the growth that the Houston and Texas Central railway brought to both towns in the early years of their existence. Not soon after the towns were formed, they started playing football against each other. But those early years prior to 1920 formation of the UIL do not formally count and Howe didn’t even field a UIL sanctioned team until 1935.

Howe first played Van Alstyne on October 24, 1941 which the Panthers won, 31-7. The Spike was created before the 2001 season and that was the year Van Alstyne started the current 9- game winning streak over Howe. It also happened to be the same time that Van Alstyne outgrew Howe in enrollment numbers due to the Georgetown edition in their community. Before the current winning streak, Van Alstyne led the series, 25-17-2 but now have double the amount of Howe’s wins thanks to the recent stretch. Howe’s longest winning streak versus the Panthers was four games from 1977-1980. When the trophy was originated in 2001, then Van Alstyne Head Coach Randy Matthews told the Van Alstyne Leader, “Because of the closeness of the two towns and what this rivalry means to so many people, I hope everybody will be up for this game and prepared to play. When you have a game like this with so much emotion, there’s always big plays involved.”

The Spike was is akin to Sherman and Denison’s Battle of the Axe which Walker was a radio broadcaster for those games from 1994- 2003 and television broadcaster in 2008. “The community involvement and the electricity that comes with that Sherman Denison Battle of the Axe is so impressive and Howe and Van Alstyne had the same rivalry, but on a smaller scale. We were able to work with those in Van Alstyne back in 2001 to share cost of the trophy and make this something special. However, it won’t be truly special until it comes to Howe’s trophy case.” said Walker.

This Day in Bulldogs History, 3-6-1

1938, Tied Whitesoro, 12-12 at Bulldog Stadium
1943, lost at Sherman B, 6-0
1948, beat Gunter, 25-0 at Bulldog Stadium
1966, lost at Leonard, 23-8
1977, lost to Pilot Point, 21-8 at Bulldog Stadium
1983, lost to Pottsboro, 7-6 at Bulldog Stadium
1988, won at Pottsboro, 21-14
1994, beat Leonard, 28-0 at Bulldog Stadium
2005, lost at Anna, 41-7
2011, lost at Boyd, 55-6