Gowanda Small Town Times

On Saturday, February 4, the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team was at Cassadaga Valley. Gowanda got off to a fast start in the 1st quarter taking an 11-9 lead. A terrible 2nd quarter saw them outscored 12-5 to fall behind 32-37 at halftime. In an intense 3rd quarter, both teams were able to run up sixteen points. Down by five going into the final quarter, Gowanda again fell victim of a hot-and-cold offense. Energized by a pair of 3-pointers, Cassadaga Valley went on a 16-point streak while Gowanda struggled to add three to their score. That took the score to 53-34. From that point, Gowanda scored the last eleven points of the game, in the final two minutes, making the final score 45-53. No Gowanda stats were available.

The Gowanda wrestling team was at the Section 6 D2 Class C&D Championships on February 4. That meet was held at Southwestern. As a team Gowanda placed in the middle of the group at 7th Place with 85 points. Chautauqua Lake, together with Westfield, Panama and Clymer, took 1st Place with 281 points. With 180 points, Akron ended up 15th.

Top individual finish for Gowanda was Michael Horth who claimed 2nd Place at 145. After making it to the finals, Horth lost a 3-1 decision to Trent Burchanowski of Chautauqua Lake. Also at 145, Nathan Warrior took 4th Place for Gowanda. He lost a 9-4 decision to Chautauqua Lake’s Jack Bourgeois in the 3rd Place Finals.

Also with a 4th Place finish was Greg Reid (118) who lost his 3rd Place final match to Victor Cusatis (Wilson). Gowanda’s Jayden Fish won 5th Place at 118 with a 9-0 major decision over Joey Burg (Akron).

Two other Gowanda wrestlers made the finals. They included Owen Pfaffenbach (110, 5th Place) and Ben Krajewski (189, 6th Place ).

Saturday, the 4th, also saw the Eden boys swimming team at the ECIC Boys Division III & IV Championships Alden. As a team, Eden was limited to a pair of Bronze finishes ending up 7th of 15 teams with a score of 176. The top team was East Aurora with a score of 489.

Individually, the two Gowanda boys swimming for Eden did moderately well. Hayden Kaus earned a score of 23. He finished 7th of 25 (500Y Freestyle, 5:54.34) and 8th of 25 (200Y Freestyle, 2:13.60). Christian Merrill earned a score of 21. He finished 7th of 22 (100Y Backstroke, 1:05.35) and 9th of 24 (200Y Individual Medley, 2:26.38).

For reference, individual scores ranged from 40 (Top 3 swimmers) to 1 for 105th place. There were also 15 swimmers placing from 106-120 who finished with a score of 0.

Finally, for the third weekend in a row. The Gowanda cheerleaders were at a competition. Sunday, February 5 found them at Orchard Park. The Varsity squad took third in the D2 small varsity division while the JVs took third place in the D2 large JV division. That concludes the JV competitive season. Varsity competes on 2/15 at Iroquois and will go to sectionals on 2/18.