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.

Buffalo State University is pleased to recognize the following students who have been named to the Fall 2022 Dean’s List. In general, students who have completed at least 12 credit hours and who have attained a GPA of 3.5 or higher qualify for the Buffalo State dean’s list. Local students include: Kristina D’Amore of Dunkirk, Jadyn Jones of Gowanda, Gabriel Rhodes of Forestville, Andrew Gonzalez Kennedy of Gowanda and Morrigan Waller of Fredonia.

* Nicholas Siragusa of Gowanda has been named to the Dean’s List at West Virginia University for the Fall 2022 semester. Siragusa is a senior majoring in accounting.

We see the Winter Sports season beginning to wind down on February 2. The Gowanda bowling teams saw their last action of the regular season and the basketball teams are into the last few games as well.

The Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team traveled to Falconer on the 2nd. It was another case of a slow start standing in the way of success. Falconer quickly ran up eleven points in the 1st quarter before Gowanda got on the board. Even scoring from that point took the score to 21-11 by the end of the period. That would be a hole that was just a bit too deep to climb out of. A quick start for Gowanda in the 2nd quarter allowed them to make a small gain to 24-15 before being virtually shut down by Falconer. A 14-2 blitz by Falconer had them way out in front, 38-17 at halftime.

The 3rd quarter was Gowanda’s best of the game. After slipping to 50-24, Gowanda had a surge of their own. A Quentin Centner 8-point effort, including a pair of 3-pointers let the way. Victor Rivera contributed 4 points in the 3rd quarter including a basket with 5 seconds left. An early 4th quarter push by Gowanda closed the gap to 54-45. They had improved that to 56-52 as the clock showed 2:57 left in the period. That was as close as Gowanda could get as Falconer reinforced their lead hitting on 5 of 6 foul shots in the final two minutes of the game. Final score in the game was 63-52.

Quentin Centner topped Gowanda scorers with 22 points. Also scoring in double digits with 11 points was Victor Rivera. Rounding out the Gowanda scoring were Blake Herman (7 points), John Ondus (5 points), Ben VanNote (3 points), Cole Herman (2 points) and Tyler Smith (2 points).

The Gowanda boys and girls bowling teams closed out their regular season at Ellicottville. Both team finished the regular season on a winning note.

The boys cruised by Ellicottville 4-0. Leading the Gowanda boys was Gavin Whitcher (174-199-190/563). Four boys rolled in the 400s. They were Kory Degenfelder (129-149-168/446), Nicholas Smuda (162-161-134/437), Drew Shull (123-163-134/420) and Aiden Gray (145-136-131/412). Two bowlers split a series including Drezden Spire (two games/280), and Zachary Hojnacki (1 game/119). The boys finished 3rd in their division with a 12-4 record.

The Gowanda girls missed a 4-0 win by six pins. The dropped their first game 652-658. Top bowler for the Gowanda girls was Demetra Spire (119-134-200/453) In the 300s were Aubrey Smuda (138-105-130/373), Cameron Clark (115-113-138/366) and Sierra Twoguns (110-129-116/355). Emma Golden had a 293 series. Also bowling for the Gowanda girls were Natalia Elliott (2 games/144) and Makayla Kuras (1 game/100). The 3-1 win evened the girls season record at 7-7.

Wednesday, February 1, marked the last home bowling competition of the current Winter Sports season. That means it was also Senior Night for the boys and girls bowling teams. Seniors Cameron Clark and Drew Shull were honored before the match for their contributions to the team over the years.

The boys got an easy 4-0 win going up against a West Valley team with just four bowlers. High score for Gowanda came from Nichloas Smuda with games of 216, 194 and 194 for a 604 series. In the 500s were Drew Shull (163-196-212/571) and Gavin Whitcher (146-187-225/558). Also bowling all three games were Kory Degenfelder (165-110-169/444) and Drezden Spire (141-130-113/384). Splitting the final set were Zachary Hojnacki (2 games / 253) and Aiden Gray (1 game / 114).

For the girls, a 719-701 win in Game 3, left them with a 1-3 loss. Aubrey Smuda let the Gowanda girls with games of 163, 137 and 204 for a 504 set. Grouped in the 300s were Cameron Clark (153-106-133/392), Demetra Spire (124-115-126/365) and Sierra Twoguns (122-134-101/357). Also bowling for the Gowanda girls were Emma Golden (260 series) and Natalia Elliott (251 series).

As to Senior Night, the Gowanda bowling coach related the following:

“Cami Clark, daughter of Missi & Dan Clark, has bowled on the team for 5 years. Her enthusiasm and leadership skills will be missed next year! You will do great things at college, & any business will be lucky to have you work for them, Cami!”

“Drew Shull, son of Jacquie & Ben Shields and Joe & Kim Shull, has bowled at K & L since he was 5 years old and has been on the team for the past 3 years. Drew has been in the top 10 of his division all 3 years! His ability and leadership skills will also be missed next year. Good luck Drew, you will excel at your job with the Bricklayers & Masons after graduation!”

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team was at Falconer. Earlier in the season, the Gowanda meeting of the two teams ended in a 41-54 Gowanda loss in the first league game of the season. Since then Falconer has only lost one CCAA East divisional game. That was at Cassadaga Valley, a team that Gowanda beat at home.

The game was scoreless for almost three minutes before Crissa Scanlan opened the scoring for Gowanda. A subsequent foul shot had them up 3-0. It would take Falconer until there was just 2:20 left in the 1st quarter to get their first points. They were still able to build a 6-3 lead by the end of the period.

In the 2nd period, it was Cianna Hidalgo’s pair of baskets that helped Gowanda tie things at 7. Falconer rallied from there. A final basket with 11 seconds left in the half boosted the Falconer lead to 14-9.

The 3rd period opened with Aurora Steven scoring twice for Gowanda closing the Gowanda deficit to 13-14. Again Falconer rallied. This time taking their advantage to 22-13. A Gowanda surge late in the quarter brought them to four points off the lead at 20-24.

The final quarter was closely contested and Gowanda was within three points with 4:18 left in the game. Scanlan, under the Falconer basket, went up to block a shot. On video, it seems clear that she cleanly caught the top of the ball, but was still called for a foul. When the Gowanda coach questioned the call, the official relied “I called it. Let’s not talk about it”. Falconer was then given three technical foul shots, all of which were made. Thirty-four seconds later, at 3:44, there was a scramble for a loose ball between Hidalgo and Falconer star, Dani Krenzer. While it looked like Hidalgo got to the ball first and both girls were equally involved in terms of contact. Hildago was charged with a critical foul. At that point she had fouled out of the game forcing Gowanda to play four against five for the final 3-½ minutes. During that time, Falconer outpaced Gowanda 9-4 padding their victory margin to 40-29.

Leading the Gowanda effort was Aurora Stevens with 10 points, including Gowanda’s only 3-pointer of the game. Also contributing to the Gowanda total were Crissa Scanlan (7 points), Chloe Luther (6 points) and Cece Rivera (6 points).