Gowanda Small Town Times

On Saturday, January 21, the Gowanda wrestling team held their annual Round Robin Wrestling Tournament. This competition was the last for the team prior to the Sectionals. Schools in attendance included Dunkirk, Falconer-Cassadaga Valley, Franklinville, Fredonia, Frewsburg, Gowanda, Maple Grove, North Tonawanda, Olean-Alleghany Limestone, Portville, Randolph, Salamanca, St. Francis and Warsaw.

As a team, Falconer-Cassadaga Valley came out on top with a score of 396.5
Gowanda finished 3rd with 218 points. Individually, Gowanda had two boys with 2nd Place finishes. They were Nathan Warrior (138) and Michael Horth (145). Gowanda’s Owen Pfaffenbach had a 3rd Place finish.

In the early rounds, Gowanda’s Nathan Warrior had a pin over Harion Frazier (Dunkirk) in 2:52, a technical fall over Maysen Jimerson (Salamanca) 16-0 and two wins by decision over Mason Kraft (Maple Grove, 6-4) and teammate, Kaleb Smith, 8-5. In the Championship round Warrior lost a 5-3 decision to Maxximus DeVoe (Portville).

Michael Horth piled up a sting of four pins on the way to the championship round. Those came against Adrienne Degrasse (North Tonawanda, 0:46), Jeremy Danielson (Maple Grove, 1:01), Dakota Miller (Franklinville, 1:14) and Charlie Reichenbach (Falconer-Cassadaga Valley, 4:00). Horth finally lost an 11-3 major decision to Austin Chase (Falconer-Cassadaga Valley in the finals.

Owen Pfaffenbach scored a 6-0 decision over Nathan Tomlinson (Maple Grove) and pinned Jayden Bartolomei (North Tonawanda, 1:49) before losing a third round match to Karsen Lundgren (Falconer-Cassadaga Valley). In the Consolation round, he won a 10-0 major decision over Hannah McCauley (North Tonawanda) to earn 3rd Place

There were only ten entries on the girls side of the tournament, three of those from Gowanda. In the girls 126 Class, Emma Schindler took 1st Place pinning Juliana Syracuse (Randolph) twice (1:20 and 0:58). Gowanda’s Ke`ya Stevens took 1st Place in the girls 138 Class pinning Zalisa Rivera (Dunkirk, 1:23) and teammate, Kiernan Quinn (3:43). Quinn, who had previously also pinned Rivera (3:28), took 2nd Place.

A complete list of the Top 3 wrestlers in each class follows:

102 (11 wrestlers)
1st Place - Dylan Newman of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
2nd Place - Evan Newman of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
3rd Place - Logan Fuller of Frewsburg
110 (8 wrestlers)
1st Place - Karsen Lundgren of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
2nd Place - Issiah Ruiz of Dunkirk HS
3rd Place - Owen Pfaffenbach of Gowanda
118 (13 wrestlers)
1st Place - Lucas Hoffman of Fredonia HS
2nd Place - Sean Gordon of St Francis
3rd Place - Mekhi Muhyee of Portville Sr HS
126 (13 wrestlers)
1st Place - Konner Spring of Salamanca HS
2nd Place - Hunter Paulisick of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
3rd Place - Jaxon Kraft of Maple Grove Sr HS
132 (7 wrestlers)
1st Place - Ty Kraft of Maple Grove Sr HS
2nd Place - Parker Dornan of Portville Sr HS
3rd Place - Jimmy Gordon of St Francis
138 (9 wrestlers)
1st Place - Maxximus DeYoe of Portville Sr HS
2nd Place - Nathan Warrior of Gowanda
3rd Place - Mason Kraft of Maple Grove Sr HS
145 (16 wrestlers)
1st Place - Austin Chase of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
2nd Place - Michael Horth of Gowanda
3rd Place - Rory White of St Francis
152 (12 wrestlers)
1st Place - Jacob Clark of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
2nd Place - Dylan Gagnon of North Tonawanda Sr HS
3rd Place - Mason Kilmer of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
160 (12 wrestlers)
1st Place - Evan Leonard of Franklinville Sr HS
2nd Place - Brodie Little of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
3rd Place - Joseph Littlejohn of St Francis
172 (14 wrestlers)
1st Place - Dalton Caldwell of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
2nd Place - Brandon Drummond of St Francis
3rd Place - Hayden Emley of Portville Sr HS
189 (12 wrestlers)
1st Place - Matthew Trim of Maple Grove Sr HS
2nd Place - Dawson Russo of Fredonia HS
3rd Place - Chris Bargy of Olean-Alleghany Limestone
215 (13 wrestlers)
1st Place - Christian Hernandez of Dunkirk HS
2nd Place - Henry Chamberlain of Portville Sr HS
3rd Place - Jamison Caldwell of Frewsburg
285 (11 wrestlers)
1st Place - Ian Breazeale of Salamanca HS
2nd Place - Tim McCann of St Francis
3rd Place - Noah Stephan of Franklinville Sr HS

Girls Division
G107
1st Place - Brenna McCarley of North Tonawanda Sr HS
2nd Place - Brooklyn Pryll of Falconer-Cassadaga Valley
G126
1st Place - Emma Schindler of Gowanda
2nd Place - Juliana Syracuse of Randolph HS
G138
1st Place - Ke`ya Stevens of Gowanda
2nd Place - Kiernan Quinn of Gowanda
3rd Place - Zalisa Rivera of Dunkirk HS
G152
1st Place - Eva Colon-DeJesus of Dunkirk HS
G185
1st Place - Doris Baker of North Tonawanda Sr HS
2nd Place - Haley Feneran of Olean-Alleghany Limestone

Wrestling wasn’t the only competition Gowanda was involved in on January 21. The Gowanda cheerleaders were at a completion at Fredonia State as well. The Varsity squad won 1st Place in D2 Small Varsity. They also were selected as overall Grand Champions. Varsity Captain and Gowanda Senior Class member, Jada Geiger won the jump competition. The Gowanda Jr. Varsity squad took 2nd Place for D2 Large JV and best jumps.

Boys Basketball 6-8

Tuesday, January 17

Randolph at Gowanda
Gowanda 57, Randolph 76

Friday, January 20

Gowanda at Silver Creek
Gowanda 57, Silver Creek 63

Girls Basketball 5-7, 1-3

Thursday, January 19

Portville at Gowanda
Gowanda 30, Portville 44

Wrestling 1-4

Wednesday, January 18

Maple Grove at Gowanda
Gowanda 25, Maple Grove 36

Thursday, January 19

Gowanda at Springville
Gowanda 33, Springville 39

Saturday, January 21

Gowanda Wrestling Tournament
1st Falconer 396.5
3rd Gowanda 218.0
14th Randolph 94.0

Bowling boys 8-2; girls 5-4

Wednesday, January 18

Allegany/Limestone at Gowanda
- moved to Jan. 25 -

Thursday, January 19

Gowanda at Salamanca
boys 4-0 888-606/853-513/886-539
girls 1-3 732-753/691-707/715-703

Cheerleading

Saturday, January 21

Competition at Fredonia State
Varsity
1st Place for D1 Small Varsity
and overall Grand Champions
Senior captain Jada Geiger won the jump

competition
Jr. Varsity
2nd Place D2 Large JV & best jumps

Swimming 7-4

Tuesday, January 17

Eden/Gowanda at Iroquois
Eden 35, Iroquois 63

Friday, January 20

Maryvale at Eden/Gowanda
- Senior Night -
Eden 64, Maryvale 61

On Friday, January 20, the Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team traveled to Silver Creek. Early in the season, these two teams met in Gowanda with Silver Creek grabbing a 61-36 victory.

In this game, Gowanda came out slow and Silver Creek was able to score the first ten points in the game. Just over three minutes into the game, John Ondus scored Gowanda’s first two points. Slowly, Gowanda began to work back into the game closing the deficit to 13-20 by the end of the 1st quarter.

Gowanda continued to battle back in the 2nd quarter. Early in the period, they closed to 17-22 before Silver Creek pushed back to open a 28-17 lead. A 9-4 Gowanda surge at the end of the half put the score at 26-32, a one point net gain in the period.

The back and forth continued in quarter three. Gowanda moved to within two at 32-34 before Silver Creek reestablished a 10-point lead. Gowanda mounted another push outscoring Silver Creek 8-2 capped with Tyler Smith scoring with 5 seconds left in the period. The score stood at 44-40 with Gowanda still trailing.

Gowanda continued to battle through the final quarter, but were still behind 52-58 with 1:51 left. From that point, Ondus landed a 3-pointer followed by another two points. Gowanda was just a point down with 28 seconds left to play. Silver Creek controlled the ball through the closing seconds while hitting five of six foul shots as time ran out.

John Ondus led the Gowanda attack with 21 points including three 3-pointers. Quentin Centner had four 3-point baskets towards a total of 18 points for Gowanda. Tyler Smith and Andrew Barlow had 8 and 6 points, respectively. With two points each were Cole Herman and Alex Pachucinski.

In the preliminary game, the Gowanda Jayvee boys won their game. After opening a big lead early in the game, the Jayvees held on for a 65-61 victory.

Also on January 20, the Eden boys swimming team hosted Maryvale. It was Senior Night and the last meet before post-season competition. Gowanda’s Hayden Kaus is one of two Seniors swimming on the team. The other Senior is Eden’s Patrick Schmitz. Also swimming on the team from Gowanda is Christian Merrill, a Junior.

In the meet, Eden edged out Maryvale 64-61 in NISCA scoring. Individually, Christian Merrill finished 6th with a NISCA score of 41. He took 1st Place in the 100M Backstroke (1:05.71) and 2nd Place in the 200M Individual Medley (2:30.63).

Hayden Kaus finished 15th with a NISCA score of 7. He took 2nd Place in the 500M Freestyle (6:26.38). Kaus was also entered in the 200M Freestyle, but was kept off the scoreboard by disqualification.

Kaus and Merrill also teamed up with Brayden Timblin and Patrick Schmitz for two relay races. The team took 1st Place in the 400M Freestyle Relay (3:47.92) and 2nd Place I the 200M Medley Relay (1:57.36). That time was just 47 hundredths of a second off the 1st Place time of 1st 1:56.89.

The Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team hosted Portville on Thursday, January 19. As has happened several times in the past, Gowanda got off to a slow start and put themselves into a hole that was impossible to climb out of. It was worst 1st quarter of the season for Gowanda going scoreless until there were just eight seconds left in the period. At that point Crissa Scanlan hit the second of two free throws for Gowanda’s first point. Although neither team scored for the first minute and a half of the game, Portville was still able to pile up a 16-1 lead going into the 2nd quarter. In a very unproductive 2nd period, Portville extended their lead, but only outpaced Gowanda by an 8-4 margin.

Gowanda got on track in the 2nd half. It was hardest fought quarter of the game with Gowanda just barely falling short 13-15 as Portville scored in the closing seconds. Gowanda added another 12 points to their score in the final quarter while Portville played a lot of their bench and was held to five points. That left the final score 44-30. The Portville win moved their record to 9-1.

Chloe Luther topped the Gowanda scoring with 12 points. Second in scoring for Gowanda, with 9 points, was Crissa Scanlan. Gao:Wisa:s “Wassy” Stevens and Lily Scanlan each had a lone 3-point basket in the game. That made this another of a long string of games where Scanlan’s only points in a game were a single 3-pointer. Aurora Stevens also scored for Gowanda.

The Gowanda boys and girls bowling teams were at Salamanca on the 19th. The boys record slipped to 8-3 with a 0-4 loss (859-1224/898-1073/850-964). Drew Shull (232-239-199/670) led the effort for the Gowanda boys. For Shull this marked his all time high games and series. Bowling in the 400s for Gowanda were Drezden Spire (22-131-163/416) and Nicholas Smuda (42-145-123/410). Gavin Whitcher had games of 138, 132 and 120 for a 390 series. Three other Gowanda boys bowled in two of three games. Along with their 2-game totals, they were Zachary Hojnacki (252), Kory Degenfelder (240) and Aiden Gray (229).

The girls bowling team managed to win their last game 715-703 while losing the match 1-3. In games 1 and 2, they fell just short by scores of 732-753 and 691-707. Rolling into the 400s were Demitra Spire (124-172-167/463) and Aubrey Smuda 170-127-160/457. Also bowling for the Gowanda girls were Sierra Twoguns (131-108-109/348), Cameron Clark (124-98-107/329) and Natalia Elliott (90-93-79/262).

Finally, January 19 found the Gowanda wrestling team at Springville falling short 33-39. Three Gowanda wrestlers earned wins by pin in the meet. They were Jayden Fish (118) over Riley Hjemdahl-Monsen, Nathan Warrior (145) over Zach Hughes and Michael Horth (152) over Bailey Oatman. Greg Reid (126) won his match over Aiden Morris by a 6-1 decision. Two wrestlers were awarded wins for Gowanda by forfeit. They were Nakotah Jackson (102) and Brendin Diebel (110).

On Wednesday, January 18, the Gowanda wrestling team hosted Maple Grove. The meet ended in a 25-36 loss for Gowanda with several matches decided by forfeit. Brendin Diebel (102) and Jayden Fish (118) accepted forfeit wins for Gowanda while the team gave up forfeits at 160 and 215. Double Forfeits were recorded at 172 and 189.

Gowanda’s Nathan Warrior (145) pinned Jeremy Danielson in 2:49. Two other Gowanda wrestlers had wins by decision. They were Michael Horth (152) over Daniel Quattrone (10-0 Major Decision) and Greg Reid (126) over Jaxon Kraft (6-0 Decision).

The Gowanda wrestlers will close out their regular season on Saturday, January 21, hosting the annual Gowanda Round Robin Wrestling Tournament. In addition to Gowanda, the following schools are expect to attend: Dunkirk, Falconer-Cassadaga Valley, Franklinville, Fredonia, Frewsburg, Lockport, Maple Grove, North Tonawanda, Olean-Alleghany Limestone, Randolph, Salamanca, St Francis and Warsaw.