Gowanda Small Town Times

May 2 2023 was a drizzly day in the 40’s as the month continued its damp start. With the exception of the girls Varsity lacrosse team, all sports were either cancelled or postponed due to the weather.

The girls lacrosse team had a non-league game at Niagara-Wheatfield. As has been the case on several occasions, the 1st half was one-sided. By halftime the score was 12-1 with Niagara-Wheatfield in control. The game ended in An 18-2 score. No individual Gowanda stats were available from the game.

On the first day in May 2023, the only Varsity team playing was the Gowanda Varsity boys lacrosse team. They had to travel all the way to Fairfield, Pennsylvania for their game. It proved to be quite a battle.

Gowanda played Fairfield even through the first two quarters of the game to an 8-8 tie at the intermission. Things tightened up and became more defense-oriented in the second half with few goals being scored. In the end, Gowanda came up one goal short taking a 15-14 loss.

Powering the Gowanda offense were Winter Rivera (5 goals, 5 assists) and Ha’tsihgahdo:d Stevens (5 goals, 1 assist). Nakotah Jackson added 2 goals and an assist to the effort. Contributing 1 goal each for Gowanda were Nate Warrior and Winter Mentley-Peters. In goal, Faolan Quinn made 8 saves. Freshman, Alanson Stafford spent just a limited time in goal, but managed to make a save on the only shot he faced. Gowanda coach, Justin Gill, commented “Evan Fort was huge at the faceoff once again”. Fort won 17 of the 27 draws in the game.

Photo: Gowanda’s Tyler Smith (#15) slides into home to tie the April 29 home game versus Roy-Hart in the 7th inning. Smith scored on a Logan Ruff sacrifice bunt. Seen in the background, heading to 3rd base, is Carter Capozzi (#21).

A cool and often damp end to April didn’t interrupt the sports schedule. With the exception softball, with no scheduled games, all off the Spring sports teams saw their last action of the month.

Saturday, April 29, saw the best Gowanda effort of late April. The Gowanda Varsity baseball team hosted Roy-Hart for a non-league game. Both teams came into the game with a 6-1 overall record that proved to be as close as might be expected.

Gowanda took an early lead in the 1st inning as both Alex Pachucinski and John Ondus scored after being put on base via walks. Pachucinski had stolen both 2nd and 3rd base before he and Ondus both scored on a Carter Capozzi two RBI double. After a scoreless 2nd inning, Roy-Hart rallied back to tie things at 2. Gowanda pulled back into a lead at 4-2 with Drew Shull and Blake Herman scoring in the 4th inning. Both teams added single 5th inning runs leaving Gowanda still up by two runs. Roy-Hart scored one in the 6th and two runs in the top of the 7th inning, taking their first lead of the game. In the bottom of the inning, Gowanda’s leadoff batter, Tyler Smith, was walked. Tyler (pictured above) scored on a Logan Ruff bunt while Ruff was being thrown out at 1st base. Going into extra innings tied at 6, the game tightened up going scoreless for two innings. The stalemate was broken in the 10th inning as Roy-Hart, with bases loaded, scored just a single run. Gowanda needed a run to tie or two to win in the bottom of the inning. They got those two runs on a ground out and an RBI double by Cole Herman. That ended the game with a 8-7 win.

Gowanda’s boys and girls Varsity lacrosse teams both had tough outings to end the month. Starting on April 28 when the boys hosted Salamanca. In took just 13 seconds for Salamanca to get an opening goal and they were up 3-1 before Ha’tsihgahdo:d Stevens scored with 8:28 left in the 1st quarter put Gowanda on the board. Gowanda ended the quarter down 7-1 and 12-3 at halftime. The 3rd quarter was Gowanda’s best of the game as Stevens, Cashis Montour and Evan Fort all scored in the period. The game eventually ended in a 19-8 Gowanda loss. Leading the Gowanda offense were Ha’tsihgahdo:d Stevens (3 goals, 3 assists) and Nate warrior (2 goals). Also scoring a single goal for the team was Jessup Stevens. Gowanda’s main goalie, Faolan Quinn, faced 21 shots making 5 saves. Also in goal, Alanson Stafford made 1 save on 4 shots.

On April 29, the Gowanda Varsity girls lacrosse team hosted Lewiston-Porter. Their ongoing issues continued as they fell into an 11-3 hole by halftime. In a closer final half, Lew-Port slightly increased their lead outscoring Gowanda 6-4. The Gowanda scoring was led by 8th grader, Cadence Luther, with 3 goals in the 17-7 loss. Also scoring for the team were Ke’ya Stevens (2 goals, 1 assist), Alaina Kaczmarczyk (1 goal) and Aurora Stevens (1 goal). In goal for the Gowanda girls was Nina Coulon who made 5 saves on 22 shots. While the goal total for the Gowanda girls remains low, they remain very effective on the few shots they take. In this game, Gowanda scored on 7 of their 15 shots on goal.

In other sports news, Gowanda track was represented at the Dunkirk Invitational on April 28. In tough competition, the Gowanda boys were 15th of 16 teams scoring 2 points. In 16th place was Springville with a single point. With a Top 10 finish for the Gowanda boys was Chase Bolen (7th, 1600m, 5:01.11). The Gowanda girls finished 10th Place of 16 teams with 15 points. Gowanda girls with Top 10 finishes in an event were Crissa Scanlan (7th, shot put, 28-11; 3rd, discus, 83-5), Autumn Pupo (5th, 800m, 2:40.71; 8th, 1500m, 5:45.16) and Rhianna Woods (16th, 100m dash, 14.53; 7th, 200m dash, 29.72; 14th, long jump, 12-9.50)

Finally, Week 2 results are in for the Spring trap season and Gowanda is still in their usual spot in 1st Place in 1A Conference 11. Gowanda’s Week 2 score was 880.50 for a season total of 1,790.50. That slightly increased their lead over 2nd Place Hammond Central School who scored 862.50 in Week 2 for a total of 1,718.50. Tied for 2nd Place in conference with a Week 2 score of 47.50 were Gowanda’s Daniel Stang and Zayne Laskey. Their score was just short of Mason Bush’s (Penn Yan Academy) 1st Place score of 48.00. Other Top 10 Gowanda boys were Daniel Humphrey (#6 tie, 45.00) and David Dirienzo (10th, 44.00). On the girls side, Gowanda’s Maddison Smith was #2 in conference with a score of 41.00.

Baseball 7-1, 5-1

Monday, April 24

Jamestown at Gowanda
Gowanda 16, Jamestown 4

Wednesday, April 26

Gowanda at Jamestown
Gowanda 14, Jamestown 1

Saturday, April 29

Roy-Hart at Gowanda
- non-league -
Gowanda 8, Roy-Hart 7 9 innings

Softball 7-4, 4-1

Monday, April 24

Falconer at Gowanda
Gowanda 3, Falconer 9

Tuesday, April 25

Gowanda at Pine Valley
Gowanda 11, Pine Valley 3

Thursday, April 27

Randolph at Gowanda
Gowanda 3, Randolph 1

Boys Lacrosse 4-4, 4-2

Wednesday, April 26

Gowanda at Tonawanda
Gowanda 18, Tonawanda 4

Friday, April 28

Salamanca at Gowanda
Gowanda 8, Salamanca 19

Girls Lacrosse 0-8, 0-4

Monday, April 24

Gowanda at Clarence
Gowanda 2, Clarence 20

Wednesday, April 26

Lancaster at Gowanda
Gowanda 2, Lancaster 21

Saturday, April 29

Lew-Port at Gowanda
GowandA 7, Lew-Port 17

Track

Tuesday, April 25

Gowanda at West Valley
Boys
Gowanda 77, West Valley 60
Girls
Gowanda 74, West Valley 41

Friday, April 28

Gowanda at Dunkirk Invitational
Boys
1st Hamburg 107.6
15th Gowanda 2
16th Springville 1

Girls
1st East Aurora 139
10th Gowanda 15
14th Maryvale 1

Trap

Week 2 score & Season total
1A Conference 11
Gowanda High School 880.50 1,790.50
Hammond Central School 862.50 1,718.50
Penn Yan Academy 758.00 1,539.50
Alexandria Central High School 739.50 1,490.50
Granville Jr/Sr High School 762.50 1,451.00
Columbia High School 522.00 1,103.50
Potsdam High School 326.00 608.50

Photo: Gowanda;s Holland Browning (#4) beats the ball to 1st base in the 6th inning of the team’s home game against Randolph. She went on to steal 2nd base before getting thrown out going to 3rd.

Randolph was at Gowanda for a Varsity softball game on April 27. This was the only Varsity game played on the day. A quick start was pivotal in deciding this important CCAA East 1 match-up. In the 1st inning, Randolph’s first three batters managed only a double just over the Gowanda center fielder. In the bottom of the inning, Gowanda’s leadoff batter, Jada Geiger, opened with a double just inside of 3rd base. Aubrie Heron took her place at 2nd base as a designated runner. Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens was up next. Her hit fell between two Randolph players who nearly collided in right field for a double. With a pair of runners on base, the Randolph pitcher recorded a strikeout for their first out in the game. Hailey Christopher brought Heron home with a RBI single. Then Holland Browning made it to 2nd base as the Randolph throw to 1st missed, which also allowing Stevens to score. Christopher also scored in the inning on another Randolph miscue. The Randolph catcher tried to catch Christopher, who had taken a big lead-off, at 3rd base. Just as Christopher made it back to the base, the pickoff throw hit her in the back and was deflected into the infield. That was all that Christopher needed to steal home.

Gowanda would not score another run in the game, but the Gowanda defense came up big to save the game. Gowanda pitcher, Addison Kota tossed a complete game with 6 strikeouts and nearly picked up her 4th home run at Lady Panther Park on the season. She had a 2nd inning hit that hit the wall in center field about half way up for a double. Randolph managed only one run in the game in the 3rd inning with a walk and a double. In an exciting conclusion to the game, Randolph had the tying runs on base in the 7th inning with one out. Then Lily Bobseine fielded a hit at 1st base in time to make the out at 1st and also make the throw to 2nd base for the third out and a 3-1 Gowanda win .