GvilleTX Newsroom
Tickets are sold out for the 128th Battle of the Ax between the Sherman Bearcats and Denison Yellow Jackets on Friday, August 28, 2026, at Munson Stadium in Denison, Sherman ISD says, putting the night’s attention on entry, parking and school-security rules already posted for fans. Sherman ISD’s calendar lists the game for 7 p.m. at Munson Stadium, 326 W. Crawford St.
No first-party record located for this report confirms a new or increased law-enforcement deployment for the rivalry game. The official records that are posted do confirm standing controls at Munson Stadium: Denison ISD’s facility rules say backpacks and purses must be clear and may be searched, spectators may not loiter, stadium-lot parking is limited to approved pass holders, and people who violate fan-behavior rules can be removed without a refund.
Denison ISD’s athletics ticket page says sporting-event tickets are purchased online, no cash is accepted at the gate, and credit or debit cards are required. The same online-ticketing model appears in Cooke County; Gainesville ISD tells families that home athletic tickets must be bought through its Gainesville athletics ticketing page or the HomeTown Ticketing app.
Denison ISD board minutes from August 18 say an annual Battle of the Ax reception for Sherman ISD and Denison ISD administrators and board members begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The minutes say tickets and parking passes are required for the game and VIP parking.
The two Texoma districts already operate their own school police departments. Denison ISD lists Paul Neumann as police chief and says its department has 11 personnel. The district says each campus has an armed officer except Denison High School, where two officers are assigned. Sherman ISD says its police department was founded in 2021, has nine officers, provides armed officers at every secondary school and shares responsibility for elementary campuses.
Sherman ISD also says its 2025-26 clear-bag policy applies to middle- and high-school events, including athletics and fine arts, and is intended to help security personnel identify prohibited items quickly. Denison ISD’s facility page has a separate clear-bag rule for Munson Stadium and says bags are subject to search.
The local rules sit within broader state school-safety requirements. Texas House Bill 3 requires each school district board to decide the appropriate number of armed security officers for each campus and to ensure at least one armed security officer is present during regular school hours. The Texas Education Agency says 2025 House Bill 121 adds emergency-operations-plan provisions for the safety of students, staff and spectators during extracurricular activities, with standards to be set by TEA. TEA also says 2025 House Bill 2 roughly doubled the School Safety Allotment.
Sherman ISD says a voter-approved May 2023 bond program is funding a new multipurpose stadium, along with other district projects and safety, security and technology upgrades. The district says the new stadium is scheduled to open for varsity football on September 18, 2026, against The Colony. Friday’s rivalry game, however, remains scheduled for Denison, under Munson Stadium’s posted rules.
_Editor's note: Everyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law._
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