Gowanda Small Town Times

The Gowanda Panthers Varsity basketball team hosted the Frewsburg Bears on February 6. It was Senior Night for Gowanda, but the Bears, who rolled over the Panthers 99-35 on January 10, made the occasion less joyful that it might have been.

Much like the previous encounter, Frewsburg got off to a fast start. Gowanda was down 11-0 when Quentin Centner scored the first points for the Panthers with 3:01 left in the 1st quarter. At the end of the period it was 23-9. Things got worse in the 2nd quarter. After scoring the 1st two points in that period, Gowanda went scoreless through the period on into halftime.

Gowanda started the 2nd half in an 11-40 hole and turned the 3rd quarter into their best effort of the game. The Panthers limited Frewsburg to twelve points in the period while adding twenty-one to their own tally. That brought to totals to 32-52.

Frewsburg answered with their best quarter of the game in the 4th. They outscored Gowanda in the final period 26-11 taking the final score to 78-43.

Leading Gowanda scoring was Quentin Centner with 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Right behind, with 10 points each, were John Ondus and Tyler Smith. Also, scoring for Gowanda were Blake Herman (5 points), Alex Pachucinski (2 points) and Andrew Barlow (2 points). In addition to Centner, Ondus and Herman also had 3-point baskets.

Being Senior Night, the pre-game included the introduction of the Senior players on the team along with their parents. The families were given small gift baskets and ballons while the player’s accomplishments were revisited. The Senior cheerleaders and their parents were similarly noted.

The lengthy list of senior players includes Andrew Barlow, Edoardo Comenga, Cole Herman, John Ondus, Alex Pachucinski, Ruben Rivera IV, Victor Rivera and Tyler Smith. Senior cheerleaders include Cami Clark, Emma Cross, Kailyn Farner, Jada Geiger, Kaitlyn Hastie, Rosalee LeBeau, Hannah Szalay, Shelby Weston and Gabriella Whipple.

On Saturday, February 4, the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team was at Cassadaga Valley. Gowanda got off to a fast start in the 1st quarter taking an 11-9 lead. A terrible 2nd quarter saw them outscored 12-5 to fall behind 32-37 at halftime. In an intense 3rd quarter, both teams were able to run up sixteen points. Down by five going into the final quarter, Gowanda again fell victim of a hot-and-cold offense. Energized by a pair of 3-pointers, Cassadaga Valley went on a 16-point streak while Gowanda struggled to add three to their score. That took the score to 53-34. From that point, Gowanda scored the last eleven points of the game, in the final two minutes, making the final score 45-53. No Gowanda stats were available.

The Gowanda wrestling team was at the Section 6 D2 Class C&D Championships on February 4. That meet was held at Southwestern. As a team Gowanda placed in the middle of the group at 7th Place with 85 points. Chautauqua Lake, together with Westfield, Panama and Clymer, took 1st Place with 281 points. With 180 points, Akron ended up 15th.

Top individual finish for Gowanda was Michael Horth who claimed 2nd Place at 145. After making it to the finals, Horth lost a 3-1 decision to Trent Burchanowski of Chautauqua Lake. Also at 145, Nathan Warrior took 4th Place for Gowanda. He lost a 9-4 decision to Chautauqua Lake’s Jack Bourgeois in the 3rd Place Finals.

Also with a 4th Place finish was Greg Reid (118) who lost his 3rd Place final match to Victor Cusatis (Wilson). Gowanda’s Jayden Fish won 5th Place at 118 with a 9-0 major decision over Joey Burg (Akron).

Two other Gowanda wrestlers made the finals. They included Owen Pfaffenbach (110, 5th Place) and Ben Krajewski (189, 6th Place ).

Saturday, the 4th, also saw the Eden boys swimming team at the ECIC Boys Division III & IV Championships Alden. As a team, Eden was limited to a pair of Bronze finishes ending up 7th of 15 teams with a score of 176. The top team was East Aurora with a score of 489.

Individually, the two Gowanda boys swimming for Eden did moderately well. Hayden Kaus earned a score of 23. He finished 7th of 25 (500Y Freestyle, 5:54.34) and 8th of 25 (200Y Freestyle, 2:13.60). Christian Merrill earned a score of 21. He finished 7th of 22 (100Y Backstroke, 1:05.35) and 9th of 24 (200Y Individual Medley, 2:26.38).

For reference, individual scores ranged from 40 (Top 3 swimmers) to 1 for 105th place. There were also 15 swimmers placing from 106-120 who finished with a score of 0.

Finally, for the third weekend in a row. The Gowanda cheerleaders were at a competition. Sunday, February 5 found them at Orchard Park. The Varsity squad took third in the D2 small varsity division while the JVs took third place in the D2 large JV division. That concludes the JV competitive season. Varsity competes on 2/15 at Iroquois and will go to sectionals on 2/18.

Buffalo State University is pleased to recognize the following students who have been named to the Fall 2022 Dean’s List. In general, students who have completed at least 12 credit hours and who have attained a GPA of 3.5 or higher qualify for the Buffalo State dean’s list. Local students include: Kristina D’Amore of Dunkirk, Jadyn Jones of Gowanda, Gabriel Rhodes of Forestville, Andrew Gonzalez Kennedy of Gowanda and Morrigan Waller of Fredonia.

* Nicholas Siragusa of Gowanda has been named to the Dean’s List at West Virginia University for the Fall 2022 semester. Siragusa is a senior majoring in accounting.

We see the Winter Sports season beginning to wind down on February 2. The Gowanda bowling teams saw their last action of the regular season and the basketball teams are into the last few games as well.

The Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team traveled to Falconer on the 2nd. It was another case of a slow start standing in the way of success. Falconer quickly ran up eleven points in the 1st quarter before Gowanda got on the board. Even scoring from that point took the score to 21-11 by the end of the period. That would be a hole that was just a bit too deep to climb out of. A quick start for Gowanda in the 2nd quarter allowed them to make a small gain to 24-15 before being virtually shut down by Falconer. A 14-2 blitz by Falconer had them way out in front, 38-17 at halftime.

The 3rd quarter was Gowanda’s best of the game. After slipping to 50-24, Gowanda had a surge of their own. A Quentin Centner 8-point effort, including a pair of 3-pointers let the way. Victor Rivera contributed 4 points in the 3rd quarter including a basket with 5 seconds left. An early 4th quarter push by Gowanda closed the gap to 54-45. They had improved that to 56-52 as the clock showed 2:57 left in the period. That was as close as Gowanda could get as Falconer reinforced their lead hitting on 5 of 6 foul shots in the final two minutes of the game. Final score in the game was 63-52.

Quentin Centner topped Gowanda scorers with 22 points. Also scoring in double digits with 11 points was Victor Rivera. Rounding out the Gowanda scoring were Blake Herman (7 points), John Ondus (5 points), Ben VanNote (3 points), Cole Herman (2 points) and Tyler Smith (2 points).

The Gowanda boys and girls bowling teams closed out their regular season at Ellicottville. Both team finished the regular season on a winning note.

The boys cruised by Ellicottville 4-0. Leading the Gowanda boys was Gavin Whitcher (174-199-190/563). Four boys rolled in the 400s. They were Kory Degenfelder (129-149-168/446), Nicholas Smuda (162-161-134/437), Drew Shull (123-163-134/420) and Aiden Gray (145-136-131/412). Two bowlers split a series including Drezden Spire (two games/280), and Zachary Hojnacki (1 game/119). The boys finished 3rd in their division with a 12-4 record.

The Gowanda girls missed a 4-0 win by six pins. The dropped their first game 652-658. Top bowler for the Gowanda girls was Demetra Spire (119-134-200/453) In the 300s were Aubrey Smuda (138-105-130/373), Cameron Clark (115-113-138/366) and Sierra Twoguns (110-129-116/355). Emma Golden had a 293 series. Also bowling for the Gowanda girls were Natalia Elliott (2 games/144) and Makayla Kuras (1 game/100). The 3-1 win evened the girls season record at 7-7.

Wednesday, February 1, marked the last home bowling competition of the current Winter Sports season. That means it was also Senior Night for the boys and girls bowling teams. Seniors Cameron Clark and Drew Shull were honored before the match for their contributions to the team over the years.

The boys got an easy 4-0 win going up against a West Valley team with just four bowlers. High score for Gowanda came from Nichloas Smuda with games of 216, 194 and 194 for a 604 series. In the 500s were Drew Shull (163-196-212/571) and Gavin Whitcher (146-187-225/558). Also bowling all three games were Kory Degenfelder (165-110-169/444) and Drezden Spire (141-130-113/384). Splitting the final set were Zachary Hojnacki (2 games / 253) and Aiden Gray (1 game / 114).

For the girls, a 719-701 win in Game 3, left them with a 1-3 loss. Aubrey Smuda let the Gowanda girls with games of 163, 137 and 204 for a 504 set. Grouped in the 300s were Cameron Clark (153-106-133/392), Demetra Spire (124-115-126/365) and Sierra Twoguns (122-134-101/357). Also bowling for the Gowanda girls were Emma Golden (260 series) and Natalia Elliott (251 series).

As to Senior Night, the Gowanda bowling coach related the following:

“Cami Clark, daughter of Missi & Dan Clark, has bowled on the team for 5 years. Her enthusiasm and leadership skills will be missed next year! You will do great things at college, & any business will be lucky to have you work for them, Cami!”

“Drew Shull, son of Jacquie & Ben Shields and Joe & Kim Shull, has bowled at K & L since he was 5 years old and has been on the team for the past 3 years. Drew has been in the top 10 of his division all 3 years! His ability and leadership skills will also be missed next year. Good luck Drew, you will excel at your job with the Bricklayers & Masons after graduation!”