4 minute read
Mayor Stanley
(Continued from page 1) mayor be acted upon in favor of Bill French, a longtime council member. The council voted in favor of French with all in favor besides French who abstained.
“I’ve put stipulations on myself that if I could not continue to do the job or did not have the time for the job, that I would step down. That time has come,” said Stanley in open forum at the council meeting. “Over the years, I’ve had to back off of a lot of the jobs that I do and don’t spend as much time at City Hall and I’ve had to step off of boards. This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but it’s time.”
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Stanley went on to say that he had talked with French several times over the past year about setting this plan in place.
“We’ve never set a date, but I called him up last week and said, ‘it’s time – if the council would agree,'” said Stanley. “I think it’s time for somebody new.”
Stanley is the longest-tenured mayor in the City of Howe history behind W.P. Thompson, who was voted mayor of Howe for at least nineteen consecutive terms spanning from 1913-1949.
French is a 26-year resident of Howe and has served on the Howe City Council for several consecutive terms and on two separate occasions dating back as early as the 1990s.
“When I first started, I had an abundance of time, but didn’t known diddly squat about running a city,” said Stanley in a sit-down interview. “But I got to be involved in one of the city’s best all -time hires in City Administrator Joe Shephard.”
Stanley says that he read everything he could get his hands on about city leadership and with the patience of Shephard, he feels that he became a pretty good mayor.
During his tenure as mayor, the downtown area was transformed from an area with a lot of empty buildings to a return to the heart of the city with a thriving business district.
“There are businesses downtown now that have been here for a number of years where they used to be in and out of these buildings,” said Stanley referring mainly to both restaurants which have been staples in Howe for over five years.
Stanley said that at the top of his list when he started was to make sure the city employees had a secure job as the city was in financial ruin at the beginning of his first term.
“Most of the employees had applications out all over the county,” said Stanley. “We changed that.”
He was listed off being able to get railroad crossing and getting Sum(Continued on page 6)
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As they left Bulldog Stadium and drove by a lit Victory Light, the Bulldogs could understand that their dominating performance will set up a fall classic in Commerce next Friday for a playoff seed.
Howe (3-5; 2-2) racked up 421 overall against Lone Oak (1-6; 03) but the game’s first two possessions ended in punts. Howe’s second possession resulted in points thanks to a defensive offsides which allowed Howe’s freshman quarterback to throw the ball deep near the goal line to receiver Kolby Windon. With pass interference called against Lone Oak, it set up the first of two Jalen Thornton rushing touchdowns, this one coming from the 3 yard line. After Kevin Flores’ first of all successful PATs, Howe led 7-0 with 7:12 left in the first.
Howe’s defense lined up in a five -man front with Steven Waldrip rushing from the defensive end position. That decision turned out the be perhaps the biggest story of the game as Waldrip ran untouched to the quarterback early and often which disrupted anything the Buffaloes were trying to do throwing the football with Quaid Williams, who returned after missing several games. Because of Howe’s scheme, it forced Lone Oak Head Coach Larry McFarlin, a former Howe head coach, to go to more of a traditional running attack. But no matter what Lone Oak tried to do, Howe’s Defensive Coordinator Mike Segleski had an answer. His “Dog Pound Defense” forced six turnovers during the game which added to their season stockpile of over 20 takeaways.
After a turnover on downs, Howe raced 71 yards on five plays to extend the lead to 14-0 when Thornton added his second score of the night on a 33-yarder.
Jackson Adkins recovered a Lone Oak fumble near midfield which set up a Howe 8-play, 48-yard drive that ended on Austin Haley’s 11th career touchdown as he hit Caiden Harmon in Bulldog
Stadium’s most northeast section of pay dirt. Howe led 21-0 with 8:21 left in the second quarter.
Arturo Lowder intercepted a Williams pass on their next possession, however the Dogs were stymied and turned the ball over on downs.
Howe avoided disaster in the final stages of the first half when Haley’s pass was intercepted and ran back to the Howe five yard line with under :20 seconds remaining. However, again the Bulldogs defense turned away Lone Oak and Jordan Jones won a jump ball in the endzone and intercepted the pass to virtually end the half.
Jones opened the second half with a fumble recovery, but Howe was unable to move the ball on its opening possession. Harmon intercepted a pass on a fake punt which set up Howe’s next score. Haley hammered the ball down for Windon who leaped to the one yard line after breaking a tackle at the five. Haley sneaked it over for the 1-yard score to give Howe a 28-0 lead with 2:34 left in the third.
The game slowed down with punts and turnovers on downs before Haley ripped his 12th career touchdown pass. He hit Har(Continued on page 15)
Howe vs. Lone Oak stats
Howe rushing: 220
Howe passing: 201
Rushing: Jalen Thornton 17-105, 2TD, Carson Daniels 8-57, Caiden Harmon 2-43, Layton Elvington 4-31, TD, Austin Haley 7(-16)
Passing: Austin Haley 12-18-1-201, 2TD
Receiving: Caiden Harmon 5-120, 2TD, Kolby Windon 3-54, Jalen Thornton 3-17, Arturo Lowder 1-10
Lone Oak rushing: 95
Lone Oak passing: 72
Rushing: Mariano Rincon 14-57, Quaid Williams 6-25, Austin Ram 1-8, Jack Kizer 1-5
Passing: Quaid Williams 8-23-2-72, Jack Kizer 0-1-1-0
Receiving: Jack Kizer 4-56, Jacob Jackson 2-16
