Gowanda Small Town Times

Boys Basketball (2-1)

Monday, December 4 -non-league -
Gowanda at Cattaraugus-Little Valley
Gowanda 64, Catt.-L.V. 43

Friday, December 8 -non-league -
Gowanda at Eden
Gowanda 41, Eden 66

Girls Basketball

Wednesday, December 6
Gowanda at Springville/West Valley
Gowanda 33, Springville 39

Friday, December 8
Forestville at Gowanda
Gowanda 44, Forestville 39

Wrestling

Wednesday, December 6
Springville at Gowanda
Gowanda 33, Springville 41

December 8 & 9
Southern Tier Wrestling Officials (STWOA) Tournament (26 schools)

1st St. Francis 191
23rd Gowanda 30.5
26th Cameron County (PA) 3

Bowling Boys (1-0) Girls (1-0)

Friday, December 8
Cattaraugus-Little Valley at Gowanda
Boys
Gowanda 4, Catt.-L.V. 0
974-693/911-600/882-685 [2767-1978]
Girls
755-679/861-600/691-584 [2307-1863]

Swimming (Eden/Gowanda)

Wednesday, December 6
St. Francis (Buffalo) at Eden
Eden 74, St. Francis 82
Gowanda’s Christian Merrill 4 gold for 12 points
200M Medley Relay team 1:59.85
200M Individual Medley 2:30.70
100M Backstroke 1:05.84
400M Freestyle Relay team 4:00.93

HAMBURG – John Zygaj, Interim Principal of St. Francis High School, recently announced the Honor Roll of students who achieved academic honors for the First Quarter of the 2023-2024 school year. St. Francis High is a Roman Catholic, Franciscan, private, college preparatory school for young men in Western New York.

First Honors are awarded to students achieving a weighted Grade Point Average of 95 – 100+ while Second Honors are given to students averaging 90-94.990.

Gowanda students who made the list are as follows:

Second Honors: Ethan Farley (11th grade); Samuel Comstock (11th grade).

[photo] Referee signals 2 points for Gowanda’s Kaleb Smith (145) during the December 6 home meet against Springville.

The Gowanda Varsity wrestling team opened their 2023 season at home on December 6. Gowanda hosted Springville for what turned out to be a very exciting evening of wrestling. Before the Varsity contests two exhibition matches were held. The first of those was tied 8-8 after two periods. Gowanda ran up a 16-8 point advantage before getting a win by pin with just 0.04 seconds left on the clock. The second match was equally exciting as a 5-1 point advantage in period 1 tightened to 5-4 by the end of period 2. Gowanda gained a 7-4 point advantage before achieving a pin with 1:05 left in the 3rd period. Gowanda then won the opening coin toss as the focus turned to Varsity action.

Gowanda’s Kaleb Smith (145) won the first Varsity match with a pin in 5:29. In the 152 Class match, Gowanda got in trouble early and went down by pin in 1:04. The score was tied 6-6 and Maddox Hudson (160) was up for Gowanda. After ending the first period in a 2-2 tie, Hudson gained a narrow point advantage in Period 2 before locking down a pin in 4:39. That was followed by Michael Horth (170) gaining a win by a 5-0 decision. Gowanda was on the move and Brody Mescall (190) also won by pin (1:01). At this point, Gowanda was up 21-6. Springville answered in the 215 weight class match running up a 16-0 point total and winning by technical fall with 1:37 left in the third period. Springville followed that by taking a win by pin in 1:15 at 285. With Gowanda’s lead cut to 21-17 focus turned to the lower weight classes. At 101, Springville put up one of their female wrestlers against Gowanda’s Zack Stark. The apparent mismatch verified as Stark ran up a quick 5-0 point advantage before getting a win by pin at 1:02. Gowanda’s 27-17 lead was reversed as Springville achieved pins at 108 (1:03) and 124 (3:23) as well as taking a forfeit win at 116. Springville was up 27-29. Gowanda managed one final win in the meet. Owen Pfaffenback (124) got a pin in 3:23 putting Gowanda back in front 33-29. That advantage was short lived as Springville closed out the meet with back-to-back pins at 131 (5:04) and 138 (1:40). That gave Springville a 41-33 win.

The Varsity action was followed by 8 additional matches. Gowanda won half of those with pins in 4:33 and 1:08 plus a 9-6 decision as well as pin in 4:37 in the only girls match.

Meanwhile, the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team was at Springville/West Valley. This battle between the two school ended up in nearly the same score as the wrestling match. It was a sluggish affair with no scoring in the first 2:29 of the game when Gowanda’s Corinna John scored a single point on a foul shot. Springville matched that single point before moving into a 6-1 lead. Gowanda stepped it up a bit but still trailed 9-6 after the 1st Quarter. The teams played a nearly even 2nd quarter with Springville bumping up their lead by a single point to lead 17-13 by halftime. Springville ballooned their advantage to 30-20 in an active 3rd Quarter of play. Gowanda went all out in the final quarter for their only double-digit period of the game. Outscoring Springville 13-9 Gowanda was still left with a 39-33 loss. It was a big final quarter for a couple players who had been silent up to that point. Karice John hit twice for her only 4 points in the game. Lily Scanlan also scored her only 4 points in that period on a 3-pointer and a foul shot.

Leading the Gowanda scoring were Lauren Kelly (13 points) and Corrina John (11 points, including a 3-pointer). Alhanna Gabel also scored in the game.

The Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team was at Cattaraugus-Little Valley on December 4 for a non-league match-up. An explosive display of offense in the 1st Quarter set Gowanda up for an easy win.

Just 13 seconds into the game Gowanda’s Quentin Centner hit from 3-point range to open the scoring. C-LV answered taking the score to 3-2. Troy Jimerson put Gowanda back up by three with a couple of foul shots before Gowanda went on a tear. Jimerson hit again at 5:47 for the first two points of a 20-point Gowanda blitz. With Gowanda holding a 25-2 lead, C-LV finally scored again with 8 seconds left in the period.

Gowanda’s Blake Herman opened the 2nd Quarter with a 3-pointer and later added a field goal to the Gowanda total. With the huge 30-4 advantage Gowanda was able to rotate a lot of bench players into the game. That gave the starters more rest than they might have otherwise seen while the second tier players got valuable game experience. This also allowed C-LV to get their offense on track, in spurts. C-LV closed the gap to 30-12. Gowanda answered putting some starters back into the game and going on a 6-point run ballooning the gap back to 24 points at 36-12. While C-LV did edge Gowanda in the period 14-13, that still left the score at halftime standing at 37-18.

The 3rd quarter saw Gowanda push their advantage out to 49-20 by mid-quarter. The score was 56-38 as the final quarter began. The game was all but over and starters saw just minimal action in the period. Gowanda added just 8 points in the period against 5 for C-LV. In a game that was never close Gowanda posted a 64-43 win.

Scoring in double digits for Gowanda were Blake Herman (18 points), Quentin Centner (16 points) and Trelin Warrior (10 points). Herman and Centner both had a pair of 3-pointers in their total. Centner also went 4-for-4 from the foul line. Behind them were Troy Jimerson (8 points), Seth Geiger (6 points) and Carson Huch (2 points). Croix Snow (½), Ben VanNote (½) and Dominick Whalen (2/2) also to the Gowanda total from the foul line.

[photo] Gowanda’s Quentin Centner (#1) goes up for a shot early in the season opener home game against North Collins on November 27. Also seen is Troy Jimerson (#44).

The first measurable snow of November 2023 arrived on the 27th, just in time for the start of the Winter sports season. A Gowanda Varsity girls basketball non-league game at Jamestown was postponed due to possible storm conditions in the Southern tier. The game was rescheduled for December 12. That left the Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team with the honor of having the first game of the Winter season all to themselves. They hosted North Collins for a non-league match-up that was very competitive and hard fought.

North Collins scored the first two points in the game. Quentin Centner quickly put Gowanda on top from 3-point range. North Collins had their last lead in the game with a pair of foul shots put them up 6-5. Gowanda’s Trelin Warrior answered with a 3-pointer. A couple Warrior fast break baskets later and Gowanda held a 12-8 lead. North Collins battled back to tie at 12 before Gowanda pulled away again. North Collins tightened things once more and came to within one at 16-15 with a basket with 0:39 left in the 1st Quarter.

Gowanda came out fast in the 2nd Quarter with seven unanswered points capped with a Everett Stevens 3-pointer. Gowanda grew that 23-15 lead to 33-22 as halftime neared. A field goal and foul shot in the last 30 seconds of the half upped the North Collins total to 25 by the intermission.

North Collins got off to a good start in the 3rd Quarter narrowing the Gowanda lead to 35-33 and, then, tying the game for the second time at 37. Gowanda went on another run exploding their advantage to 52-38. A late North Collins basket saw the period end with a score of 52-40. A 20-point 4th Quarter was North Collins’ best production of the game, but only enough to close the gap by three points. Gowanda spent the last minute of the game repeatedly at the foul line making 6 of 10 shots to close out the game with a 69-60 win.

Leading the Panthers scoring were Trelin Warrior 21 points) and Quentin Centner (17 points). Right behind was Blake Herman with 9 points. Also scoring for Gowanda were Troy Jimerson (5 points), Seth Geiger (4 points), Croix Snow (4 points), Dominick Whalen (4 points), Everett Stevens (3 points) and Logan Roff (2 points).