Gowanda Small Town Times

On October 5, the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team was at Ellicottville. From the earlier meeting in Gowanda it was expected to be a challenge where both teams would have to earn every point they got.

Ellicottville jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in Game 1 before things tightened up. Gowanda did managed to tie things at 4. It was another one of those games where both teams traded slight leads and tie scores were frequent. From a 20-20 score, Gowanda finally grabbed the final lead in the game. That lead never exceeded two points and was as narrow as 24-23 before the eventual 25-23 Gowanda win.

In Game 2 it was Gowanda taking the early lead 5-2. Ellicottville worked back into a tie at 7 on the way to their own 10-7 lead. Although Gowanda managed to get back into a tie at 13, they slipped back again. Gowanda was in a 20-14 hole before they pulled out of the skid. With Elizabeth Green serving, Gowanda pulled to within 1 at 20-19. They eventually tied the game at 22. Gowanda had 1-point leads back into ties at 23 and 24 when Addison Kota came up to serve. Back-to-back aces gave Gowanda the 26-24 win.

Down 2-0 going into Game 3, Ellicottville rose to the do or die challenge. They quickly moved into a 4-1 advantage and increased that lead to 17-10. From 22-14 down, Gowanda make a minor comeback, but was not able to prevent a 25-18 loss.

On to Game 4. It was back to both teams holding small leads with several tie scores for the first half of the game. From a 12-11 advantage, Gowanda finally made a move. Again with Kota serving, their lead grew to 16-11. Unable to take back the lead, Ellicottville did manage to pull into a tie at 18, 21 and 22 before a pair of Holland Browning kills set Gowanda up with a 24-22 advantage. One point later, Gowanda had a 3-1 match win with a game score of 25-22.

Gowanda stats are as follows:
Holland Browning 13 kills, 3 aces, 17 digs
Corrina John 6 kills, 1 dig, 9 blocks
Aubrie Heron 5 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs, 7 blocks
Addison Kota 2 kills, 3 aces, 13 digs, 2 blocks
Elizabeth Green 2 kills, 1 ace, 2digs
Lauren Kelly 2 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks
Jillian Gernatt 24 assists, 1 ace, 11 digs
Ella Luther 1 ace, 43 digs
Tessa Kohn 5 digs

Over in Pine Valley, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team was hosting Portville. It was another long day for the boys. In a 4-0 hole after one quarter, Pine Valley/Gowanda was down 6-0 at halftime. Portville added two goals in the 3rd plus one in the 4th quarter for a final 9-0 win.

On Wednesday, October 4, there was just one Gowanda-connected Varsity team with a game. The Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team hosted Franklinville. As it was the last regular season home game for Pine Valley/Gowanda it was also Senior Night.

It was game that ended in a 0-0 tie at the end of regular play. In overtime, Lauren Hostetter scored for Pine Valley/Gowanda with an assist by Samantha Collins. That gave Pine Valley/Gowanda a 1-0 win. It was the team’s 3rd win and their 2nd in a row going back to the previous week. In an unusual occurrence, Pine Valley/Gowanda outshot their opponent 13-10 with goaltender, Destiny Lindquist, getting the shutout.

Pine Valley/Gowanda still has three travel games left in the regular season.

The first Varsity sports action in October came on Tuesday the 3rd. Two games were on the schedule, both taking place at Pine Valley. In both cases, Gowanda-connected teams came out on top.

The Pine Valley Varsity girls volleyball team hosted Gowanda. Gowanda got off to a slow start in Game 1. Frequently tied, the game was very close in the early going with neither team holding an advantage of more than two points. From a 9-all tie, Gowanda went on a 4-point spurt that put them ahead 13-9. Eventually, Pine Valley worked their way back into a tie at 18. That prompted a pivotal timeout. Gowanda took the next point bringing Ella Luther up to serve. Starting with an ace, Gowanda ran up six straight points to win the game 25-18.

In Game 2, the teams split the first four points evenly. Then, Addison Kota had her own run of six service points and Gowanda was up 8-2. With the score at 9-3 it was Aubrie Heron up to serve. With Heron serving, Gowanda went on an 11-point streak that included 3 aces. The score was 20-4 and Gowanda coasted to a Game 2 win. The final two points came with Jillian Gernatt serving with that last point being an ace that hit the top of the net before dropping down on the Pine Valley side. That 25-6 win put Gowanda up in the match 2-0.

Game 3 was hard fought with Pine Valley battling their way into an early 9-3 lead. Gowanda clawed their way back. Down 11-7, Holland Browning racked up nine straight service points beginning and ending with an ace giving Gowanda a 16-11 lead. Pine Valley was unable to close that gap as the game progressed to an eventual 25-19 Gowanda win to take the match 3-0.

Once again, numerous Gowanda players figured into the game statistic. They are listed below:
Aubrie Heron 7 kills, 6 aces, 4 digs
Elizabeth Green 6 kills, 3 aces
Corrina John 4 kills
Addison Kota 4 kills, 3 aces, 13 digs
Holland Browning 3 kills, 5 aces, 6 digs
Lauren Kelly 2 kills
Jillian Gernatt 21 assists, 2 aces, 5 digs
Ella Luther 3 aces, 9 digs
Sydney Smith 2 digs
Tessa Kohn 2 digs
Madilyn Pawlak 1 dig

Shortly before the girls were busy playing volleyball, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team was hosting Salamanca/Cattaraugus-Little Valley for what would be a highlight game for the team. After a scoreless 1st Quarter, Salamanca got the first point in the game mid-way through the 2nd Quarter. Pine Valley reached halftime down 1-0. A huge 3rd Quarter followed for Pine Valley/Gowanda. Nine minutes into the period, Rafael Meurant scored tying the game at 1-1. Sawyer Bradigan was credited with an assist on the goal. Three minutes later, Pine Valley had the lead as Bradigan scored at 52:00 with assist by Jack Sheldon. Sheldon followed with a pair of goals at 54:00 and 57:00 with assists from Bradigan and Warren Butcher. The remaining 3 minutes of that quarter and the whole 4th Quarter passed without any further scoring. With only a few games left in the regular season, the Pine Valley/Gowanda boys got their first win by a 4-1 score.

[photo] Pictured is Gowanda Free Library director, Heidi Khawam, with the library’s 1st Place scarecrow, Spongebob Square Pants.

The end of September means the annual Scarecrow Contest in Gowanda. This very popular local event is one that both locals and former Gowanda residents look forward to. Voting was done on paper ballots over the weekend as well as online in the “You Know Your From Gowanda” group on Facebook, where likes for the photo of any scarecrow counts as a vote.

While the Gowanda Free Library has a new director this year, they still took 1st Place for the 2nd year in a row. The library entry, “Spongebob Square Pants” attracted 250 online votes towards a vote total of 250 including paper votes to gain the 2023 title of “Gowanda’s Favorite Scarecrow”. In 2nd Place was “Fisherman Floyd” created by Sue Trewer with a total of 192 votes. The top vote getter for a Gowanda business, and 3rd Place overall, went to Gowanda’s K&L Lanes for “Trixie Berger” with 131 votes.

While the number of entries has been modest in recent years, this year’s contest did attract an increased number of entries. In 2023 there were 8 scarecrows entered in the contest, up from 5 the previous year.

Michael and Barb Luffred of Gowanda celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary Sept. 26.