Gowanda Small Town Times

On Wednesday, January 11, the only Gowanda sports action saw the wrestling team travel to Portville. Gowanda was unable to cover the 160 and 172 weight classes resulting in two forfeits and 12 points in the Portville column. Gowanda did get three forfeit wins as well awarded to Brendin Diebel (102), Owen Offenbach (110) and Nathan Warrior (145). There was a double forfeit at 189.

No pins were registered by Gowanda in the match, but three Gowanda wrestlers did gain wins by decision. They were Greg Reid (118) over Mekhi Muhyee (7-6 decision), Jayson Twoguns (132) over Riley Horsley (9-6 decision) and Michael Horth (152) over Camden Morrison (8-2 decision).

The Gowanda Panthers Varsity boys basketball team was at Frewsburg on January 10 for a game that was never competitive. The game was scoreless for just short of two minutes before Frewsburg landed the first two points in the game. It was all downhill from there. Gowanda was down 6-17 when Frewsburg went on a 12-point streak to close the 1st quarter up 29-6. The 2nd quarter was almost as bad with Frewsburg dominating the scoring 28-9. Down 15-57 going into the 3rd quarter Gowanda had their most competitive period in the game scoring 15 points to 22 for Frewsburg. Gowanda closed out the 99-35 loss with a 5-point final quarter. Frewsburg racked up ten 3-pointers in the game. Gowanda’s Quentin Centner connected on three 3-point shots on the way to lead the Panthers scoring with 15 points. Also scoring in double-digits for Gowanda was John Ondus with 10 points. Tyler Smith, Ben VanNote and Cole Herman combined for the other ten Gowanda points.

On a happier sports note, the Eden swimming team, led by Gowanda’s Hayden Kaus and Christian Merrill, was at Cheektowaga. The meet was an easy win for Eden 119-31. Along with teammate Patrick Schmitz, Kaus an Merrill tied for the individual 1st Place honors with 2 golds for 20 points each. Kaus’ wins came in the 200M Freestyle (2:08.03) and 500M Freestyle (5:55.26). For Merrill it was the 200M Individual Medley (2:31.02) and 100M Backstroke (1:06.72).

The second Gowanda sports week of 2023 got started on a winning note. The Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team and both the boys and girls bowling teams came away with wins on Monday, January 9.

The girls basketball team was at home hosting Cassadaga Valley. The game started out tight through a score of 6-6. A 3-point basket sparked Cassadaga Valley to move into an 11-6 lead. Gao;Wisa:S Stevens then scored for Gowanda to bring the score to 8-11 at the end of the period.

In the beginning of the 2nd quarter, Gowanda scored quickly taking back the lead 12-11. Cassadaga answered with a 3-pointer starting another 5-point run to go ahead 16-12. As the half was nearing the end, Lily Scanlan landed a 3-point shot to bring the score to 15-16 at the intermission.

The 3rd quarter started out with Gowanda in complete control. a 10-0 surge put them out in front at 25-16. Cassadaga Valley finally scored midway through the period. A series of turnovers in the last minute of the quarter allowed Cassadaga Valley to tie things up at 25. That included a 3-pointer with 4 seconds showing on the clock.

Things got very tight in the final quarter, but Gowanda managed to grab a hold a small lead. With 55 seconds left in the game, Cece Rivera scored to move Gowanda’s lead to 36-30. With time running out, Cassadaga Valley was forced to make intentional fouls to save time. Gowanda rose to the occasion making four of four foul shots in the closing seconds giving them a 40-32 win. That put their league record at 1-1 (5-5 overall).

Top scorer for Gowanda was Crissa Scanlan with 14 points. Cece Rivera and Chloe Luther had 8 and 7 points, respectively. Also scoring for Gowanda were Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens (4 points), Aurora Stevens (4 points) and Lily Scanlan (3 points).

It was also a good day for Gowanda bowling team with both the boys and girls getting wins at Cattaraugus-Little Valley. On the boys side, C-LV only had three bowlers participating which allowed Gowanda to grab an easy 4-0 win. Three Gowanda boys rolled series of 400 or better including Gavin Whitcher (144-190-125/459), Nicholas Smuda (125-150-134/409) and Drew Shull (113-108-179/400). Closely grouped in the 340s were Zachary Hojnacki (130-126-92/348), Kory Degenfelder (128-113-102/343) and Drezden Spire (126-117-98/341). This brought the boys season record to 7-2.

The Gowanda girls came close to a 4-0 score, but lost Game 2 by just 10 pins (598-608). Aubrey Smuda (126-120-129/375) was top bowler for the Gowanda girls with Sierra Twoguns (133-104-122/359) and Demetra Spire (109-116-118/343) close behind. Smuda’s three games were all above her average. Strong efforts were also put in by Cameron Clark (92-103-117/312) and Natalia Elliott (93-90-104/287) rolling her season high series. Two other Gowanda girls had only partial series. Makayla Kuras had 174 total pins in Games 1 and 3. Emma Golden bowled in Game 2. The win brought the girls’ record to 5-3.

Saturday, January 7 was all about girls sports. The Varsity girls basketball team was in the second day of the Pioneer Tournament and Gowanda was also represented at the Chautauqua Lake Girls wrestling Invitational.

Having lost to Pioneer on the first day of the tournament, the Gowanda Lady Panthers Varsity basketball team found themselves in the Consolation Round on Saturday facing Franklinville. It was a situation that saw the Gowanda girls throw off their recent problems on offense in a big way.

The 1st quarter started off slow and was close for a while with the score tied both at two and at four. From there, Gowanda ran up six straight points. A final basket by Franklinville left it 10-6 at the end of the period. In the second quarter, the Lady Panthers went on a tear outscoring Franklinville 15-5. That run was led by Cece Rivera with eight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers.

The 3rd quarter was the most active of the game with Gowanda edging Franklinville 15-12. After a silent 1st half, Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens took control in the 2nd half with 10 points including two 3-point baskets. The first those was followed by a 3-pointer from Aurora Stevens, who contributed the other five points in the quarter.

With the score 40-23 heading into the final quarter, another eight points from Gao:Wisa:S Stevens helped Gowanda to add 10 to their total. Franklinville totaled seven points in the period capped with a final 3-pointer.

Leading the scoring for Gowanda were Gao:Wisa:S Stevens (18 points) and Cece Rivera (12 points). Both had a pair of 3-point baskets in the game. Hitting single baskets from 3-point range were Aurora Stevens (9 points) and Lily Scanlan (3 points). Rounding out the Gowanda scoring was Crissa Scanlan with 8 points.

The final score of 50-30 marked the Lady Panthers highest point total in a game so far this season. The previous high mark had been 43 points registered against Allegany-Limestone back in December on the second day of the Otto-Eldred Tournament.

Gowanda was also represented by at the Chautauqua Lake Girls Invitational Wrestling Meet on Saturday two girls. Of 18 schools represented, Gowanda tied with Dunkirk for 8th Place just ahead of Springville and just behind Lake Shore. With a more complete team of lady wrestlers, host Chautauqua Lake ran away with 1st Place.

In the 120 weight class, Gowanda’s Emma Schindler cruised through the preliminary rounds winning three time by pin. Those matches were against Alex Siliano (Chautauqua Lake), Ava Holloway (Lockport) and Madison Szymanowski (Chautauqua Lake). In the 1st Round of the finals, Schindler pinned Riley Hjemdahl-Monsen (Springville). She finally was awarded 2nd Place in class after losing to Gracie Hostetler (Warsaw).

Gowanda’s Kiernan Quinn took 3rd Place in the 145 class.

GCS Scoreboard w/e Jan. 8

Boys Basketball 6-4

Friday, January 6

Falconer at Gowanda
Gowanda 49, Falconer 56

Girls Basketball 4-5, 0-1

Thursday, January 5

Falconer at Gowanda
Gowanda 41, falconer 54

- Pioneer Tournament -
Friday, January 6
- non-league -
Gowanda 28, Pioneer 37
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Saturday, January 7

Gowanda vs. Franklinville
- non-league -
Gowanda 50, Franklinville 30

Wrestling

Wednesday, January 4

Frewsburg at Gowanda
Gowanda 29, Frewsburg 37

Thursday, January 5

Gowanda Girls at Chautauqua Lake
1st Chautauqua Lake 194.0
9th Gowanda (tie with Dunkirk) 27
17th Frontier (tie with Alexander) 0

Bowling boys 6-2; girls 4-3

Wednesday, January 4

Hinsdale at Gowanda
boys
Gowanda 4, Hinsdale 0
801-533/841-570/919-531
girls
Gowanda 0, Hinsdale 4
723-847/679-976/808-810

Swimmimg

Friday, January 6

Eden/Gowanda at East Aurora
East Aurora 122, Eden 60