Kim Duncan recognized

Ethan Strunc began in the band program in the second semester of fifth grade. At first, it was just a class to him, but has evolved into passion that has paid off for him. Strunc is the Band President where he helps to make the band environment a friendly one and he takes a leadership role.

Part of this year’s routine is “Crazy Train” is derived from the Ozzy Osbourne song. Strunc will be the vocal portion of Ozzy Osbourne screaming, “All Aboard! Ha ha ha!” He says when he first practiced the vocal screaming that mimicking it perfectly in unintelligible over a microphone. So he’s been trying to figure out the balance of the true Ozzy sound and something that sounds better for a marching performance.

Strunc (pronounced Strun-ss) is also Student Council President, and he says over the summer he and his fellow members worked on freshman orientation.

“I had to give a couple of speeches to help motivate everyone and get everyone pumped up and that’s kind of what my job is,” said Strunc.

He’s also member of the One-Act Play program which has had great success. He says a lot of work went into the show which took them to the regional round.

“We practiced two times a week on Wednesdays and Sundays,” said Strunc. “We were actually in a time crunch at the end of it to put everything together, but we managed to pull through somehow and we went super far and I’m proud of everybody for that.”

Ethan Strunc

Band Director Angie Liss noticed early in the season that Strunc was ad-libbing his drumbeats and not using sheet music which actually impressed her. He says the drumline is famous for not having their sheet music when they’re supposed to. Strunc likes to make music at home and even made drum cadences on the internet as a part time job during COVID.

“That kind of helped with this,” said Strunc. “In a normal rehearsal, we were working on stand music. The drum line didn’t have their music, so I just kind of started playing a beat once I heard the music and instructed them with my hand to tell the bass drummers what to play for the beat. Slowly everything started coming together and it was as if we had the music. It fooled everybody for the longest time.”

The interview with Ethan Strunc aired at halftime of the Howe vs. Pottsboro broadcast.

Kim Duncan recognized for dedication and overcoming accident

First grade teacher Kim Duncan (left) pictured with Summit Hill Elementary School Principal Clarissia Doty. Doty recognized her talents and gave an emotional recognition of her to the school board on Tuesday night discussing her recovery from a motor vehicle accident on the night before school was released in May.

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Soup Scoop

Howe ISD Superintendent Kevin Wilson told the school board on Monday that they finished August with an enrollment of 1,239 students which is a little lower than normal. Attendance was somewhat low at 91 percent. He said that after asking other school districts, it is a common trend in the area. Wilson said that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is looking at some possible scenarios to keep school districts from losing funding from the low attendance rates.

“Last year they plugged the hole with some federal money,” said Wilson who said he didn’t expect that will happen again.

The STAAR performance clocked in at a 52 overall with the area average being 49.6. The 52 is an average of the categories of approaches, meets, and masters scores. Previously, the score was derived strictly from approaches which made the score much higher. The approaches were 81 percent, meets was 53 percent, and masters was 23 percent. The CCMR was 62 percent is down, but the criteria have changed, and they knew that number would drop. The graduation rate improved to 96 percent from 88.

He said they did not get an academic achievement score due to no student scores in 2020.

In STAAR Academic Achievement (reading and math scores), Howe was at 67 percent compared to the area at 54.

“We compare pretty favorably to our neighbors,” said Wilson. “We’re never happy with what we have, but it’s kind of like playing golf. Whatever you get, you feel like you could have done a little better. We’re going to keep working at it.” In regard to COVID, he said it hit the high school the week of August 30 where 22 positive cases happened in the ISD that week. The next week saw another 25 and the vast majority were at the high school. The other campuses saw very minimal cases. The middle school had several last week.

“It is winding down compared to the previous two weeks,” said Wilson. “Hopefully that trend will continue.”

Wilson said the “Delta Variant” is affecting children more but says that as of now they are managing.

Howe ISD Superintendent Kevin Wilson

“As of now, I don’t see evidence of a lot of spread between our schools, so my personal opinion is that is not something we should entertain at this point,” said Wilson in regard to a mask mandate.

When the school year began, TEA recommended, but not required that family members of positive cases to quarantine. Howe ISD has followed that recommendation, but he says the data is showing the about 40 percent of siblings of positive COVID students are eventually becoming positive. The parents, however, are less than 10 percent.

Wilson says he’s going to track this closely this month in order to determine whether a mandatory quarantine should be dictated with siblings.

Wilson accepted resignations from Donnie Wilson and Miranda Schnitker. There are two open positions which he said were very close to being filled. One is an additional nursing position which will split time between campuses. A classroom aid position is the other opening.

Wilson said concrete was to be poured early Tuesday morning at Bulldog Stadium near the concession stand area. The track is scheduled to be completed by the middle of this week as they are working around football games.

“They’re trying not to interfere with our games,” said Wilson. “We had to move middle school games last week and I didn’t want to do that again so they’re playing here Thursday night and a home varsity game Friday night. So, they’re losing some days (to work) but they’re supposed to work Saturday and Sunday to keep on schedule.”

Carson Daniels (20) rushed for 136 yards on Friday night. Photo by Michelle Carney

The Howe Bulldogs (0-4) hosted the Pottsboro Cardinals (1-2) Friday night at Bulldog Stadium. Again Howe’s offense looked outstanding at times, but the defense continued its streak of allowing over 400 yards of offense to opponents as Pottsboro accumulated 481 total yards of offense, 316 of which were on the ground.

The Cardinals raced out to an early lead and never looked back. After leading 42-0 at the half, they finished out the win, 59-14 for their first victory of the season.

Howe rushed for 138 yards and passed for 265. Carson Daniels had the biggest rushing game of his career with 136 yards on 24 carries. It’s also Howe’s most since Jalen Thornton rushed for 177 in week six of 2019. Cooper Jones finished with nine catches for 129 yards to lead Howe. It’s the most for a Howe receiver since Ty Harvey had 129 yards in week five of the 2017 season.

Since Matt Poe became the head coach at Pottsboro, he’s owned Howe with a 14-1 overall record. Howe’s only win over him came in 2010 where Howe won at home, 20-13. It’s also the last time Howe won as Friday night’s game made it 11-straight. Howe hasn’t won at Pottsboro since 1988. In the last four matchups, Pottsboro has outscored Howe 180-17.

Howe vs. Pottsboro

Broadcast of the game

Howe lost the initial coin toss which gave Pottsboro the ball first. It only took the Cards two plays to score as Major McBride scored his first of five touchdowns on the night. He raced 41 yards to the south endzone, and Pottsboro led 7-0 after the Dionis Morina PAT.

Howe’s first possession was a clock killer, which traveled 66 yards, but came up empty and a turnover on downs gave Pottsboro the ball at their own 35 yard line. But on the second play, McBride found himself free again and went 43 yards for his second score. Morina, who was successful on all PATs made the score 14-0 with 5:27 left in the first.

Howe’s next possession began at their own 10 yard line after a miscue on the kick return. Quarterback Austin Haley’s arm was hit as he threw a third down pass which landed in the lap of Jake Kubik of Pottsboro who ran it back for the score. Howe trailed 21-0 with 4:41 left in the first. It was the first of four interceptions by Haley who was pressured and harassed all night from the Cardinals defense.

His second interception came on the next possession when his arm was again hit as he threw. It land(Continued on page 5)