Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Unique Week Off To A Great Start
In what is becoming an annual event, the village of Gowanda was again a stop for the Torch Run preceding the Empire State Winter Games. On Monday, January 30, just after 9 AM members of the Gowanda cross country team arrived at the Gowanda branch of Community Bank with the torch. The Gowanda segment of the torch run included visits to the local schools before heading to the final local destination. Coordinating the run in Gowanda was Community Bank District Manager, Ralph Swanson, who is based out of the Gowanda branch. At the bank, there was a photo op with the runners alone and with bank employees and officials.
Led in the run from the school to the bank by Gowanda Cross Country coach Dave Bolen were cross country team members Kory Degenfelder, Jeffrey Whipple; back: Ethan Bachek, Nicholas Smuda, Drew Shull and Kaily Farner.
Monday evening it was the Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team taking on Cassadaga Valley. This was also “Cheer For Lindsey” night at the game. “Cheer For Lindsey” raises money for a scholarship fund in memory of former cheerleader, Lindsey Rebmann, who died in a vehicle accident in 2004.
The game itself was even closer than the 48-41 final score might suggest. Cassadaga Valley hit a 3-pointer in the early moments of the contest to start things out. Gowanda answered with Blake Herman scoring on a free throw and 3-point basket to pull in front. A Quentin Centner basket put Gowanda up 6-3. Cassadaga Valley then went on a run to close out the 1st quarter up 12-8.
In the 2nd quarter, Centner hit twice from long rang while contributing ten points to a Gowanda 13-point quarter. Cassadaga Valley struggled through the midsection of the game with several in-and-out shots refusing to go through the hoop. They only managed six points in the period leaving the halftime score at 21-18 with Gowanda on top.
The 3rd quarter production for both teams nearly equaled the previous quarter taking the score to 34-25. Just before the end of the quarter, Gowanda had reached their biggest lead of the game at 34-23.
Cassadaga Valley battled back in the final quarter. Aided by a pair of 3-pointers, they reduced the Gowanda lead to 40-39 just past the middle of the period. The game remained tight down the stretch until John Ondus landed a 3-pointer of his own with 46 seconds left on the clock to cushion Gowanda’s advantage to 45-41. Gowanda added another three points from the foul line, two with 16 seconds left and one with 4.5 left. That closed things out at 48-41.
Leading the scoring for Gowanda was Quentin Centner with 21 points. Scoring in double digits for the team were John Ondus (13) and Blake Herman (11). Also scoring for Gowanda were Tyler Smith and Andrew Barlow.
The Gowanda boys and girls bowling team hosted Allegany-Limestone for a match that had previously been postponed twice. The Gowanda boys upped their record to 10-4 with a 4-0 win. The girls slipped to 6-6 with a 0-4 loss to a still unbeaten Allegany-Limestone girls team. Gowanda missed winning the first game of the match by just five pins, 779-784.
Top bowlers for the Gowanda boys were Nicholas Smuda (148-169-202/519), Gavin Whitcher (161-192-153/506) and Drew Shull (196-118-177/491). Bowling in the 300s were Drezden Spire (114-161-117/392), Zachary Hojnacki (120-147-124/391) and Kory Degenfelder (119-122-125/366).
Topping the Gowanda girls were Aubrey Smuda (171-149-114/434) and Demetra Spire (137-132-163/432). With 300-range series were Cameron Clark (153-131-113/397), Sierra Twoguns (118-139-78/335) and Emma Golden (112-136-81/329). Natalia Elliott had a 238 series.