Howe is 1-7 vs. Cooper dating back to the initial game in 1978.
Howe’s lone win came in a 6-0 win in 1979. Since then, Howe has lost six in a row. One of the most exciting games in school history occurred in week one of the 1989 season when #8 ranked Cooper was led by future NFL star Bam Morris and future SMU player Byron Bonds. Howe had the best senior class since 1970. Howe, down 24-22, had the ball at the Cooper one yard line about to score with :30 left on the clock, but fumbled the ball and Cooper recovered and came away with the win.
Howe will play Hughes Springs (8-3) Friday night at 7:30 at Van Memorial Stadium in Van, Texas located in Van Zandt County. Howe will be the home team, but will wear all white again.
Hughes Springs defeated New Diana 49-18 on Friday night.
Howe is 1-7 vs. Cooper dating back to the initial game in 1978.
Howe’s lone win came in a 6-0 win in 1979. Since then, Howe has lost six in a row. One of the most exciting games in school history occurred in week one of the 1989 season when #8 ranked Cooper was led by future NFL star Bam Morris and future SMU player Byron Bonds. Howe had the best senior class since 1970. Howe, down 24-22, had the ball at the Cooper one yard line about to score with :30 left on the clock, but fumbled the ball and Cooper recovered and came away with the win.
In 1985, Howe lost to the Groveton Indians in the regional finals by a score of 16-14. But a fourth quarter play will forever live in the minds of Howe Bulldogs fans from that era. Howe’s Stephen Ogle, who owns a lot of playoff rushing records, turned complete disaster into six points for Howe.
Howe had a really good football team in 1998 and everyone knew it. However, when the Bulldogs were pitted against Pilot Point in the first round of the playoffs, no one gave them a chance. Howe had been blasted in game two of the season by Pilot Point by a score of 43-0 in Pilot Point. However, the ‘Dogs possessed, statistically, one of the top three running backs in school history in Nathanael Falls. It was Falls’ four touchdowns that propelled the Bulldogs to the shocking win in Denton on this evening. It was also the “Pete Simmons letter” that was re-used and re-catered from the 1990 Celina playoff game and secretly distributed from the 1990 players to the 1998 team as they left for Denton on the bus that helped motivate them to the biggest playoff upset and the #1 most exciting win in school history.
The 1990 Howe Bulldogs had a new coach, Joey McQueen, and ten new offensive starters from the previous team that advanced the the regional finals in 1989. Howe was not expected to have much of a season and they started like it with a 2-4 record. However, a few adjustments made by the coaching staff and a mid-season speech by former Superintendent Pete Simmons rallied the team to sneak in the playoffs in a do-or-die game vs. Bells to end the regular season. Howe rallied and won that game in come-from-behind fasion, 21-11.
Howe then was faced with the monumental challenge of facing Celina in the bi-district round of the playoffs in Plano at John Clark Stadium. Celina, under G.A. Moore was favored by 17 points to beat the ‘Dogs. As that team would do so many times, they came from behind in the second half, down 14-0. Damion Horton would score on a jump ball in the endzone from a pass from Wade Carson and Michael Ross would later run it in for the tying score. Howe’s defense gave up a total of 12 yards to Celina in the second half and only one first down. Michael Bailey tallied 127 yards on 18 carries to lead Howe in one of the most exciting playoff games in the school’s history.
After starting out the season at 1-2, the Howe Bulldogs, with arguably, the most talented senior class to ever to play for Howe, romped their way to a Regional Championship. In Class B football, a State Championship was not available and the furthest a team could advance was to the Regional Finals. To this date, the 1970 Howe Bulldogs are the only team to ever finish their playoff season with a win. Their season record was 10-2 and are still the only team to ever win 10 games for Howe.
In the regional championship game in Gainesville’s Leeper Stadium, Howe took on Windthorst and were expected to lose against the extremely large team. This game was not exciting because it was a close game; it was exciting because Howe romped Windthorst 22-0 and out-gained them 359 yards to 98. Howe’s “Black Blob” defense and their Slot-T offense under Head Coach Norman Dickey were too powerful for the Trojans.
Five community leaders met this evening to reform the Howe Chamber of Commerce. Howe has been without a Chamber of Commerce since 2008.
Elected President was Robert Cannaday, Vice President Sheryl Bentley, Secretary Jonathan Coleman and Treasurer Haleen Parrish. Full story in Monday’s Howe Enterprise
(L-R): Robert Cannaday, Jonathan Coleman, Sheryl Bentley, Haleen Parrish, Tom Defrange.
