Gowanda Small Town Times

[photo] Gowanda’s Quentin Centner (#5) pulls down a touchdown pass against Cattaraugus-Little Valley late in the 1st quarter.

The Gowanda/Pine Valley Panthers Varsity football team hosted the Cattaraugus-Little Valley Timberwolves on Thursday, September 7. The game was played at Pine Valley as it is traditional for the team to play one home game there early in the season. The Panthers scored early and often against a vulnerable Cattaraugus defense while preventing the Timberwolves from posting a single 1st down through the first half of play.

Cattaraugus won the opening coin toss and opted to kickoff to start the game. Gowanda’s 1st possession started at their own 30. A pass to Jon Sheldon advanced the ball to midfield on the first play. A series of passing miscues brought the Panthers to 4th and 10 on the 50. Gowanda elected to go for it on 4th down and connected for a 50-yard touchdown down the left sideline. A good 2-point conversion pass gave Gowanda an 8-0 lead. Cattaraugus saw their first drive start at their 35. After a 1-yard gain on a run, they were set back to the 31 on a false start. That series ended on the next play as Pine Valley’s Connor Elliott intercepted a Timberwolf pass giving the Panthers the ball on the 18. Gowanda quarterback, Carter Capozzi connected with Quentin Centner on the next play for a touchdown. Another 2-point conversion and the score was 8-0. Cattaraugus went 4-and-out losing five yards over three plays. The next Gowanda drive stalled on 3rd-and-17 as a pass flew just off Centner’s fingertips. That resulted in Gowanda’s only punt of the game. The Panther defense continued to create problems for Cattaraugus. After starting with the ball just inside the 50, back to back sacks pushed the Timberwolves back to their own 33. An incomplete pass, that was nearly picked off by Centner, had Cattaraugus at 4th-and-18 and punting again. There was still 2:53 left in the 1st quarter with Gowanda back with the ball. The Panthers scored in five plays ending with a 13-yard Cameron Slade run that was followed by a 21-yard touchdown catch by Centner. The scoreboard now showed 22-0 The following kickoff took a big roll all the way to the Cattaraugus 10. The Timberwolves were punting again by the second play of the 2nd quarter after gaining just six yards.

The 2nd quarter was much the same with the exception that the Panthers were now kicking their extra points. A Cameron Slade 22-yard touchdown reception breaking tackles. A Jon Sheldon interception followed immediately by a 25-yard Sheldon touchdown reception. Another Cattaraugus 4-and out. A 48-yard Winter Mentley-Peters touchdown reception. A failed Cattaraugus fake punt and run on 3rd-and-11. Another 3-play Panther drive capped with a Kaleb Smith touchdown run. Halftime arrives on what would have been 4th-and 1 for Cattaraugus.

With the game all but over at 49-0 at halftime. The clock continued to run without interruption through the 2nd half. Cattaraugus started with the ball in the second half and earned their first 1st down of the game on a run to the 50. Cameron Slade added a 3rd quarter Gowanda touchdown. A Cattaraugus fumble near midfield on 2nd down was recovered for Gowanda by Aiden Ackley on the first play of the final quarter. A 25-yard Nolan Maude touchdown run breaking loose through the Timberwolf defense. That took the score to 63-0 with 4:49 left. The game ended just as Cattaraugus earned their 2nd first down on an 8-yard run.

Gowanda quarterback, Carter Capozzi, completed 12 of 18 passes for 255 yards and 6 touchdowns.

In other sports news, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team was at Silver Creek. It was Silver Creek’s Dean League scoring the first goal in the game at 6:44. The score was tied at 1 27 seconds later as Jack Sheldon scored for Pine Valley with an assist credited to Jarrett Meyers. Silver Creek added three more 1st quarter goals grabbing a 4-1 lead. It was 7-1 by halftime. Silver Creek was up 9-1 after three quarters. A scoreless final quarter left Pine Valley with their second loss on the season.

On August 31, the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team opened against Falconer in the GCS Middle School gym. They fought back from being 2 games down to fall just short, 3-2. On Tuesday, September 5, the Lady Panthers were at North Collins looking a lot more like the team Gowanda fielded last year. It was another non-league game, but a much different result. Gowanda blew past North Collins 3-0 with game scores of 25-11, 25-12 and 25-15.

Leading the way for Gowanda were Elizabeth Green (3 kills, 11 aces, 1 dig), Aubrie Heron (6 kills, 3 aces, 1 dig, 2 blocks), Holland Browning (3 kills, 6 aces, 3 digs) and Addison Kota (3 kills, 3 aces). Showing up strong in support of the Gowanda effort were Corrina John (2 kills), Lauren Kelly (1 kill), Jillian Gernatt (16 assists, 5 aces) and Ella Luther (8 digs).

In other action, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team finally saw their first action on the 5th. They hosted Westfield-Brocton in a non-league game. Pine Valley was down 4-0 by the middle of the 1st period. While things calmed down past that point, Westfield still had no problem recording an 8-0 win. No goaltender stats were reported for Pine Valley.

Football (0-0)

Friday, September 1

Gowanda/Pine Valley at Silver Creek/Forestville
Gowanda 44, Silver Creek 14

Girls Volleyball (0-1)

Wednesday, August 30 Springville at Gowanda
- non-league; cancelled -

Thursday, August 31

Falconer at Gowanda
- non-league -
Gowanda 2, Falconer 3
18-25/19-25/25-22/25-21/10-15

Boys Soccer (0-0)

Tuesday, August 29

Pine Valley/Gowanda at dunkirk
- non-league / cancelled -

Girls Soccer (0-2)

Tuesday, August 29 Silver Creek/Forestville at Pine Valley/Gowanda
Silver Creek 5, Pine Valley 2

Thursday, August 31

Pine Valley/Gowanda at Westfield
Pone Valley 0, Westfield 2

The first day of September 2023 was also the season opener for the Gowanda/Pine Valley Panthers Varsity football team. Gowanda, a Class D team, was at class C South’s Silver Creek/Forestville Black Knights. Despite the non-league match-up with a team from a higher class, Gowanda came up with a most impressive win. The Panthers shined in every facet of the game.

Gowanda had the ball first going three and out with a run and two incomplete passes for no yards. The ball was punted back to Silver Creek. The Black Knights moved the ball from their own 40 to the Gowanda 43 with five running plays bringing up a 4th and 1. Gowanda stood strong stopping the short yardage play to take the ball back on downs. After three runs and a penalty, Gowanda punted again. Silver Creek started to stumble on their next series, losing a total of 13 yards, forcing them to punt from their own 19. The Gowanda offense started to roll from that point. Getting a drive start on the Silver Creek 37, Gowanda moved the ball to the 25 for their first 1st Down of the game. A penalty moved them back to the 30 setting the stage for a 30-yard touchdown pass on 2nd and 15. The 2-point conversion pass was good and Gowanda had an 8-0 lead. There was another Silver Creek 4 and out. The following punt was returned to the Silver Creek 46. Gowanda’s next drive resulted in a second touchdown with 9:51 left in the second quarter. Another 2-point conversion pass made the score 16-0. Silver Creek continued to struggle on offense though the 1st half and the next Gowanda drive also came up just short giving the ball back to Silver Creek on their own 24. The Black Knights lost 9 yards on that next series capped by a punt that was blocked by Pine Valley’s Cameron Slade. With a drive start on the Silver Creek 25, Gowanda scored with a pass on the next play. This time the conversion failed and the Gowanda lead was 22-0. Silver Creek had one final shot in the half with 1 minute left. They had 12 yards to their own 45 with 10 seconds left on the clock. On the fina play of the half, Silver Creek put the ball up on a long pass that was intercepted by Gowanda’s Quentin Centner as time ran out.

Gowanda scored twice more in the 3rd quarter. Jon Sheldon pulled down a pick-6 taking the score to 30-0 after the conversion. Then a 25-yard Cameron Slade run, plus the 2-point conversion, put the game out of reach at 36-0. With the game all but decided, Silver Creek managed to collect 14 points in the 4th quarter while Gowanda added a final 6 to their tally.

Top players for Gowanda were (#20) Winter Mentley-Peters (7 carries/89 yards/1 TD; 2 receptions/20 yards; 2 sacks), (#21) Brayden Smith (8 carries/49 yards; 2 receptions/6 yards), (#44) Cameron Slade (5 carries/47 yards/1 TD), (#2) Carter Capozzi (4 Carries/17 yards; completed 10 of 17 Passes/89 yards/3 TDs) and (#5) Quentin Centner (2 receptions/54 yards; 1 interception). Also making big contributions were (#34) Noah Lauer (4 carrries/14 yards), (#36) Kaleb Smith (9 carries/9 yards), (#11) Trelin Warrior (1 carry/4 yards; 2 receptions/4 yards), (#17) Jon Sheldon (1 reception/5 yards; 1 interception), (#66) Aiden Ackley (2 sacks) and (#51) Michael Horth (1 sack).

[photo] Ella Luther lines up on the ball for a dig during the Gowanda Volleyball home opener against Falconer.

With the Gowanda High School gym still taped off from the Summer resurfacing project, the first Gowanda home action of the 2023 Fall sports season was shifted to the middle School gym. The Gowanda Varsity Lady Panthers hosted a very strong group of Frewsburg Lady Golden Falcons on August 31.

Gowanda got off to a slow start in the opening game of the match. After gaining the first point of the game on a Falconer missed serve, Gowanda slid into a 1-3 hole. The game was tied at 5 and again at 8 before Gowanda took their first, and only, lead in the game. They managed to pull in front 12-8 before sliding back into a tie at 13. From there Falconer moved in front 24-17 and held on for a 25-18 Game 1 win.

While Game 2 started out a bit tighter, Gowanda was behind until the score was again tied at 5-5 on the way to a brief lead at 6-5. Falconer surged back to take a 12-7 lead. From there the battle remained tight with Gowanda only able to close the gap to four points at 11-15. Falconer held on to take Game 2 by a score of 25-19.

Things looked bleak at first in Game 3 as Gowanda gave up the first seven points. The score was 3-9 when Gowanda went on a 6-point run, with Corrina John serving, to tie things at 9. Frewsburg again moved into a slim lead. The game was tied at 13 and 15 before Gowanda began to take control of the game. Though a series of long hard fought volleys the Lady Panther moved into a 21-18 lead. The gap would thin to 23-22 before Gowanda got their first game win of the year at 25-22. The final point of the game was scored on a Holland Browning ace.

Still down 2-1 in the match, the Lady Panthers found new life in Game 4. After dropping the first point, Gowanda surged into a 4-1 lead. Frewsburg answered tying the score at four as they moved into a short-lived 7-4 lead. The battle continued to be very competitive with frequent long volleys. Gowanda tied the game at 7. Falconer held on, with Gowanda holding a thin lead, to even things again at 11. While Frewsburg was unable to regain a lead, the scored was tied at 18, 19 and 20. Gowanda scored the next three points, including an Addison Kota ace, to take control 23-20. The Lady Panthers held on to tie the match at 2-2 with a 25-21 win.

Gowanda sputtered as the final game started falling into a quick 1-5 hole. Despite being able to close the score to 8-10, Gowanda was not able to avoid a 10-15 loss in the game to fall short in the match 2-3.

Aubrie Heron led Gowanda with 12 kills, 2 points and a block. Other prominent players for Gowanda included Corrina John (10 kills, 12 blocks), Ella Luther (17 digs), Addison Kota (3 aces, 5 kills, 3 assists), Jillian Gernatt (35 assists), Ellizabeth Green (5 aces, 7 kills).

In other sports, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team continued to struggle. The team was at Westfield/Brocton taking a 0-2 loss. Continued issues with ball control resulted in Pine Valley/Gowanda Lady Panthers only managing six shots on goal while their goaltender, Destiny Lindquist, faced 15 shots stopping all but two of those.