Gowanda Small Town Times

Back on Friday, October 20, the Gowanda/Pine Valley Varsity football team hosted Randolph at Hillis Field. With tied records, both teams knew that they would face each other again the following week as playoffs started. The only thing to be determined was who would have home field. It was a run-heavy Randolph attack that prevailed over a Gowanda air campaign.

A week later on October 27 those tendencies were the same as was the outcome, but the story of the game was much different. Gowanda received the opening kickoff and went 3-and-out. Randolph’s first possession saw them move from their own 38 to the Gowanda 40 only to fall a yard short on a 4th-and-2 play. Gowanda got into high gear with their 2nd possession. After a penalty set them back 5 yards on the first play, it was full speed ahead. Gowanda quarterback, Carter Capozzi, got it started. After breaking free from a tackle in the backfield, he bolted out to the left advancing the ball 28 yards to the Randolph 38. Evan Fort took it from there, first with a 9-yard run and, then with a 29-yard touchdown run. The extra point made it 7-0. The following Randolph series lasted only two plays before they fumbled the ball away. It was Fort, again, making the fumble recovery. From there, a 9-play Gowanda touchdown drive had them up 14-0. The final play in that drive was a 27-yard touchdown pass to Quentin Center. With just under a minute left in the quarter, Gowanda seemed to have things going their way.

The tide turned in the 2nd quarter. Randolph started picking up yardage in big chunks on the ground. They drove for three scores in the quarter. Meanwhile, Gowanda stalled. First it was a hike over the quarterback’s head that, eventually, forced Gowanda to punt on a 4th-and-24. Then it was a punt after a 3rd-and-5 dropped pass. Halftime arrived with the identical 21-14 Randolph lead seen at that point the week before, but, this time, those points had been scored in the opposite order.

Gowanda got a quick break as the 2nd half started. Randolph returned the kickoff to start the quarter and fumbled the ball back to Gowanda at the 44. The fumble recovery was credited to Connor Elliott. Another 3-and-out for Gowanda saw a punt that was returned back to the 44. It took Randolph 5 plays to score. Another Gowanda 3-play series ended on 4th-and 6 after a sack. The Gowanda punter bobbled the snap for the punt resulting in a kick that went only 15 yards and out of bounds. Another fast Randolph score was followed by a Gowanda drive that ended in an interception. As the 3rd quarter wound down, Gowanda got another break. Randolph took a shot at the end zone on a 2nd-and-20 play. The pass was intercepted at the goal line. In the entire game, Randolph only attempted four passes, none of which were caught by their own players. Gowanda scored in 5 plays. Once again the touchdown reception was made by Fort. With the extra point kick Gowanda was down 35-21 with 10:06 left in the game. Randolph and Gowanda both went 3-and-out before Randolph was able to score again. It was now 42-28 with 5:25 left in the game, but Gowanda was not yet done. Gowanda scored in three plays with a 47-yard touchdown reception by Winter Mentley-Peters. The following Gowanda kickoff cruised all the way to the 10, but went out of bounds giving Randolph a drive start at the 35. A 3-play touchdown drive set the score to 48-35 as the extra point kick was blocked. There was still 3:00 left in the game. A pick-six on Gowanda’s next play put Randolph up 56-35 after a 2-point conversion run. Gowanda’s next possession consisted of a dropped pass and another interception. With 2:22 still left, it just took three Randolph short runs an a kneel down to close out the game. No Gowanda statistics were available from the game.

Also on October 27, the CCAA Cross Country Championships were going on at Bemus Point. Gowanda was one of 17 schools represented. For the boys, Gowanda (104) was 4th as a team with Jamestown (42) 1st and Dunkirk (265) 12th in the small schools group. In a field of 139 runners, Gowanda’s Top 5 boys were Cashis Montour (19th, 17:57.05), Dustin Mohawk (23rd, 18:21.38), Chase Bolen (24th, 18:22.30), Joseph Fernandez (29th, 18:40.73) and Nathan Warrior (47th, 19:13.61).

The Gowanda girls team finished 7th with a score of 157. Allegany-Limestone (62) was 1st and Olean (225) was 9th in the small schools group. Individually, out of 90 runners, the following were Gowanda’s Top 5: Calie Hudson (8th, 21:05.67), Autumn Pupo 21st, 22:19.66), Marissa Beaver (56th, 25:29.23), Alhanna Gabel (66th, 26:19.64) and Jaylenn Elliott (68th, 26:54.44).