Battle of the Ax sells out as Sherman-Denison food drive continues

By GvilleTX Newsroom

The 128th Battle of the Ax between Sherman and Denison is sold out for the 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, game at Munson Stadium, Sherman ISD says, leaving fans without seats to the district's planned YouTube livestream while the schools carry their rivalry into a canned-food contest. Sherman ISD says donations it collects will go to MasterKey Ministries, a local nonprofit whose food program says it serves 1,000 to 1,500 families a week.

Sherman ISD's current ticket notice says tickets to the game are no longer available and links fans to a YouTube livestream. The district bills this year's Sherman-Denison game as the 128th Battle of the Ax and describes the matchup as among the state's longest-running high school football rivalries.

The City of Denison is organizing Yellow Jacket Tailgating at Forest Park at 5 p.m. Aug. 28 for the Denison vs. Sherman matchup. The city page says alcohol is not permitted at the Forest Park events.

At Sherman schools, the district says the 2026 Battle of the Ax Canned Food Drive runs Aug. 21-28. Cash or canned goods may be brought to any Sherman ISD school, and the district says each dollar is counted as five cans. Sherman ISD says online monetary donations also may be made through MySchoolBucks.

Denison High School, in a post on its school Facebook page, described its canned-food effort as a contest and asked supporters to help Denison finish ahead of Sherman in the can count. The contest ties a football week built around school pride to a food collection for families in the same North Texas region.

MasterKey says its food work grew from a Sherman client-choice pantry opened in 2014. The organization says that pantry distributed more than double its original first-year goal. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service reported that roughly 48 million people lived in food-insecure households in 2024.

For Gainesville and Cooke County readers, the story is nearby: Sherman, Denison and MasterKey are part of the Texoma area that GvilleTX covers. Fans who already have tickets should also follow Denison ISD's gate rules. Its clear-bag policy allows clear totes and small clutch bags within posted size limits, says all bags may be searched and says no re-entry will be enforced at Denison ISD facilities.

_Editor's note: Everyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law._