Gowanda Small Town Times

[photo] Senior Class members of the Gowanda Cross Country team got together for a photo on September 12 after their only home meet of the season. Pictured, from left to right, are Alhanna Gabel, Calie Hudson, Autumn Pupo, Layla Gamble, Nikolas Ondus, Jayson Twoguns, Riley Olsen and Willow Mentley-Peters.

On September 12, the Gowanda boys and girls cross country teams hosted Jamestown for Gowanda’s only home meet of the season. Also represented with partial teams were Randolph and West Valley. The site for the meet was the Gowanda Conservation Club providing a unique coarse that winds 3.1 miles through forest trails. As it was the only home competition for the Gowanda teams, the seniors on both teams were acknowledged, along with their parents, post-race. That was followed by a dinner in honor of the seniors.

Taking 1st Place for the boys was Jamestown with a score of 11. The Gowanda boys were 2nd with 48 points. Randolph (2 runners) and West Valley (3 runners) were not included in the scoring as they did not have at least five runners in the race. Scoring for the Gowanda boys were Chase Bolen (6th, 17:40), Dustin Mohawk (7th, 17:43), Jayson Twoguns (9th, 17:50), Cashis Montour (10th, 18:08) and Nathan Warrior (16th, 19:25).

The girls race was a bit closer. Again, 1st Place went to Jamestown (22) with Gowanda (33) taking 2nd Place. With incomplete team representation were Randolph (4 runners) and West Valley (3 runners). Scoring for the Gowanda girls were Calie Hudson (3rd, 20:17), Autumn Pupo (4th, 21:20), Karice John (7th, 24:40), Alhanna Gabel (9th, 26:49) and Willow Mentley-Peters (10th, 27:40).

Also in action on Tuesday the 12th was the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team. They hosted Cassadaga Valley-Falconer. As has been the case, problems with ball control led to a lopsided loss. A 4-goal Cassadaga 1st quarter set the pace for them to grab a 6-0 lead by halftime. Cassadaga added a 7th goal in the 4th quarter after a scoreless 3rd. Pine Valley/Gowanda only managed to get one shot on goal in the game.

The Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team were at Randolph on September 11 for a non-league game. The team’s ball control issues continued limiting Pine Valley/Gowanda’s ability to get shots on goal while their goaltender has more than her share of shots to defend.

By halftime, Randolph had gained a 4-0 lead. That continued to an eventual 7-1 loss for Pine Valley/Gowanda. The bright light on the team was Sarah Kruszka who scored Pine Valley’s only goal. While the Randolph goaltender faced only 7 shots in the game, Pine Valley’s Destiny Lindquist made 23 saves on 30 shots on goal.

Football 2-0/1-0

Thursday, September 7

Catt./Little Valley at Gowanda/Pine Valley
- played at Pine Valley
Gowanda 63, Cattaraugus 0

Girls Volleyball (2-1)

Tuesday, September 5

Gowanda at North Collins
Gowanda 3, North Collins 0
25-11/25-12/25-15

Friday, September 8

Pine Valley at Gowanda
Gowanda 3, Pine Valley 0
25-12/25-14/25-22

Saturday, September 9

Gowanda at Falconer tournament
- no results reported -

Boys Soccer (0-3)

Tuesday, September 5

Westfield-Brocton at Pine Valley/Gowanda
- non-league -
Pine Valley 0, Westfield 8

Thursday, September 7

Pine Valley/Gowanda at Silver Creek
- non-league -
Pine Valley 1, Silver Creek 9

Saturday, September 9

Pine Valley/Gowanda at Westfield-Brocton
- non-league -
Pine Valley 10-0

Girls Soccer (0-3/0-2)

Friday, September 8

Ellicottville at Pine Valley/Gowanda
Pine Valley 0, Ellicottville 4

Cross Country

Saturday, September 9

Red Dragon Invitational
- at Bemus Point Golf Course -

boys (Small Schools)
1st Newfane 64
8th Gowanda 196
10th Alden 232

girls (Small Schools)
1st Mapel Grove 79
5th Gowanda 135
12 Silver Creek 299

On Saturday, September 9, the Gowanda boys and girls cross country teams were at the 2023 Red Dragon XC Invitational. The meet was hosted by Maple Grove and held at the Bemus Point Golf Course. A total of 42 schools participated in the event in various categories. Gowanda participated in the 5000 Meter Run for small schools.

The Gowanda boys ran against eleven other schools. Taking 1st Place was Maple Grove with a total of 79 points. Gowanda was 5th with 135. Silver Creek (299) was 12th. In a field of 136 boys, Frewsburg’s Cody Kent (16:15:14) came in first. Finishing in the Top 50 were Chase Bolen (19th, 18:12:51), Jayson Twoguns (24th, 18:31:01), Dustin Mohawk (33rd, 19:07:59), Cashis Montour (34th, 19:07:59), Maddox Hudson (44th, 19:45:60), Joseph Fernandez (49th, 20:16:69) and Owen Farner (50th, 20:28:02). Also running for the Gowanda boys were Randall John, Marcus Gamble, Kory Degenfelder, Nikolas Ondus and Jeffrey Whipple. The 136th Place runner was from CSP with a time of 37:07:00.

The Gowanda girls ran against nine other schools. Newfane was number one with a score of 64. Gowanda was 8th with 196 and Alden took 10th Place with 232. In a field of 99 girls, Top runners for Gowanda were Calie Hudson (12th, 21:56:73) and Autumn Pupo (18th, 22:21:82). Also running for Gowanda were Alhanna Gabel (27:24:77), Willow Mentley-Peters (29:18:08), Isabelle Graham (29:19:14) and Jaylynn Elliott (29:28:50). Allegany-Limestone had the 99th Place runner with a time of 34:27:18.

Elsewhere, The Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team was at Frewsburg for a multi-school tournament. No results were available at this writing.

[photo] Gowanda’s Aubrie Heron (#9 blue) goes up on attack during the September 8 home game against Pine Valley.

The Gowanda High School gym was resurfaced over the Summer and just reopened for use. On September 8 the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team got the honor of being the first to use the redone gym as they hosted Pine Valley. While the two schools compete together in the Fall for football and soccer, this was an occasion to face off against each other. In what was a relatively easy win for Gowanda most of the regular starters sat out the third game of the match.

Gowanda started out fast with Holland Browning serving into a 3-0 lead. After a service miscue, Addison Kota added three additional service points putting Gowanda up 6-1. Pine Valley then went on a 4-point run narrowing the Gowanda lead to 6-5. Gowanda worked their way back to rebuild their lead to 18-8. From there Gowanda coasted to a 25-12 win. Closing that out, was Kota with four straight aces. One of those landed in the left corner of the court completely untouched.

Game 2 started out close as the score was tied at 1, 2 and 3. Then Gowanda made a gradual move into an 18-8 lead. Even play from there saw Gowanda take Game 2 by a 25-14 score. The final point came as a Pine Valley block at the net landed just wide of the court. With things seeming well in hand, Gowanda sat all of their starters except for Senior Ella Luther going into Game 3. Pine Valley grabbed the first two points in the game before Gowanda pulled back into a 3-all tie. With the help of a pair of Corrina John aces Gowanda built a 10-4 advantage. The score stood at 23-13 when Gowanda slipped into a slump. Pine Valley took the next eight points closing the gap to 23-21. At that point, Gowanda took a timeout to regroup and put two more of the regular starters into the game. It was enough for Gowanda to pull out a 25-22 game win taking a 3-0 victory in the match.

Top performances for the Gowanda girls included Addison Kota (5 kills, 6 aces, 5 digs), Holland Browning (3 kills, 3 aces, 6 digs), Aubrie Heron (5 kills) and Corrina John (3 kills, 4 aces). Providing strong support were Lauren Kelly (3 kills), Jillian Gernatt (1 kill, 2 aces, 3 digs), Elizabeth Green (1 kill, 2 digs), Ella Luther (14 digs, 1 ace) and Tessa John (2 aces, 3 digs).

Elsewhere in sports, Ellicottville was at Pine Valley/Gowanda for a Varsity girls soccer match. It was another disappointing day for Pine Valley falling behind 3-0 by halftime. Ellicottville added an additional point in the 2nd half for a 4-0 final score. It was a particularly easy day for the Ellicottville goaltender who did not face a single shot on goal during the game.