Gowanda Small Town Times

[photo] Gowanda’s Addison Kota (#12) goes up for the ball during the September 21 home game versus Cattaraugus-Little Valley

The Gowanda Varsity Lady Panthers hosted the Cattaraugus-Little Valley Lady Timberwolves on September 21. It was as scrappy a battle as one might expect from Panthers and Timberwolves in the wild. Both teams had recently been in very competitive battles with Randolph recently and this was expected to be equally competitive. By every measure, the match could not have been closer as it was pushed to the very limit.

Gowanda got off to a slow start in Game 1. Cattaraugus ran up the first three points before a net serve put Gowanda on the board. The Lady Panthers battled back to take a short lived 4-3 lead. Cattaraugus answered with a slow, steady climb back into a 19-11 advantage. Gowanda was able to close the gap and take a 1-point lead at 23-22 only to have Cattaraugus knot things again at 23. Gowanda took that to 24-24 after Cattaraugus had gone one up with an ace. In the end, a pair of Cattaraugus points gave them a 26-24 win.

In Game 2, again Cattaraugus started with an early lead at 5-1 before Gowanda got into the game. As hard fought as the previous game, this one was tied at 6, 8, 9, 13, 15 and 16 with both teams having the lead for a time. From there a Cattaraugus spurt gained them a 3-point lead at 21-18. They were able to hold the lead from that point. Gowanda did manage to pull back to 23-24, but not avoid a 23-25 loss.

Down 2 games to 0 in the match Gowanda headed into Game 3. Cattaraugus led off with an ace on the way to an early 4-0 lead. Once again Gowanda battled back to tie things at 4. An exchange of errant serves moved the score to 5-5. Cattaraugus opened up a 10-7 lead before Gowanda started their big push into a 13-11 lead of their own. Cattaraugus narrowed that to 13-12 only to have Gowanda mount a 7-point surge that started with a Cattaraugus net serve. The Gowanda lead had grown to 20-12. From that point they were able to hold on for a 25-16 win forcing a fourth game.

Much like previous games, Game 4 started with a slight Cattaraugus lead and was tied several times. The high point of the Cattaraugus lead was at 9-4. Gowanda was finally back ahead to stay at 20-19. Outscoring Cattaraugus 5-1, Gowanda tied the match at 2-2 with a 25-20 win.

Gowanda opened with a Holland Browning ace in Game 5. Cattaraugus answered building a slim 4-2 lead from there that Gowanda reversed to a 6-4 advantage of their own. The lead reversed again to an 8 to 6 Cattaraugus advantage. At that point in Game 5, the team switched ends of the court. The game continued with Gowanda pulling into a tie at 8. The score was also tied at 9 and 10 before Gowanda climbed into a 13-10 lead. Although Cattaraugus was able to pull into a tie at 14 on a very strange call from an official who later admitted he didn’t see what happened, Gowanda was able to nail down the back-to-back points to take the final 16-14 win for a 3-2 win in the match.

Over the past couple of years the one official on this game has always been known for some strange calls. There were certainly a number of bizarre and controversial calls throughout the match, but several people have agreed that, in this case, both teams equally benefited from them.

There were many players that made big contributions to the Gowanda effort. They are listed below.

* Aubrie Heron 9 kills, 3 aces, 15 digs, 5 blocks

*Holland Browning 6 kills, 2 aces, 9 digs, 1 block

*Corrinna John 6 kills, 1 ace, 2 digs, 8 blocks

*Addison Kota 6 kills, 5 aces, 15 digs, 5 blocks

*Lauren Kelly 4 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks

*Elizabeth Green 1 kill, 3 aces, 2 digs

*Jillian Gernatt 28 assists, 1 ace, 7 digs

*Ella Luther 1 ace, 23 digs

*Tessa Kohn 4 digs

In other sports news, The Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team’s disappointing season continued at Ellicottville on the 21st. Ellicottville went up 6-0 in the 1st quarter with one player earning a hat trick in the process. Pine Valley was down 9-0 by halftime and 12-0 after three quarters. A scoreless final quarter left Ellicottville with a 12-0 win with nine different players scoring in the game.

On September 20 the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team hosted Salamanca. It was another instance of both teams finding few scoring opportunities in a game that ended in a tie. Six minutes into the game, Salamanca took a 1-0 lead. That held for seventeen minutes when Pine Valley’s Sarah Kruszka tied things up with seventeen minutes left in the 1st half. There were no further scores in the game. Pine Valley goalkeeper, faced only 11 shots on goal while the Salamanca goalkeeper was tested only 9 times. Still, for a team that lost four straight games to start the season, getting a win and a tie in the last two outings is certainly progress. That expands to 2 ties and a win in the last 4 games with the loss in that stretch being by a 3-4 score.

On September 19, the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball was at Randolph. With a scheduled September 14 home game against Silver Creek pushed back to the 25th, it had been a week and a half since Gowanda had seen any action. That showed in this match-up with one of the top teams in the league.

Both teams started out a bit slow with ties at one and two in Game 1. From there Gowanda’s competition drought became evident. Randolph quickly moved out to a 9-2 advantage. Eventually that grew to find Gowanda in a 20-8 hole. Gowanda was able to put together a few short spurts at the end of Game 1, but not enough to avoid a 25-17 loss.

Gowanda gave up the first three points in Game 2 before tying things at five. While they never saw a lead in the game, Gowanda did tie the score again a 10-10. A 6-point run moved Randolph into an 18-12 lead. Outscoring Gowanda in 3-1 spurts, Randolph nailed down a 25-14 win.

Down 2-0 in the match Gowanda put together their best game overall in Game 3. They even held a 4-2 advantage in the early going. While it was a hard fought, close game most of the way, Gowanda fell victim to service errors. Five Gowanda serves into the net plus two that landed out of bounds hampered their chances in the game. Quite often these free points were given up just as Gowanda had evened the score. In the end, giving one of the best teams in the league seven free points left Gowanda a 25-20 loss and a 3-0 loss in the match.

Through it all the Gowanda defense put up a valiant effort as evidenced by the number of bullets they dodged in the match. In all Gowanda players totaled 57 digs. Leading the way were Ella Luther (17 digs), Addison Kota (4 kills, 16 digs, 1 block) and Holland Browning (1 kill, 12 digs). Also having noteworthy stats were Elizabeth Green (6 kills, 1 ace, 4 digs), Corrina John (3 kills, 1 dig, 3 blocks) and Jillian Gernatt (1 kill, 15 assists, 1 ace, 5 digs). Additionally, Lauren Kelly had 1 kill and Tessa Kohn contributed 2 digs.

Meanwhile, at Allegany-Limestone the Gowanda Cross Country teams were facing off against Frewsburg, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley and Cattaraugus-Little Valley in addition to the host team. The Gowanda boys earned took 1st Place with 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes towards a score of 27. Frewsburg was 2nd with 32. Falconer/Cassadaga, Cattaraugus-Little Valley and Allegany-Limestone did not figure in the scoring. Scoring for Gowanda were Jayson Twoguns (3rd, 17:45), Chase Bolen (4th, 18:06), Dustin Mohawk (5th 18:23), Joseph Fernandez (7th, 18:55) and Cashis Montour (8th, 18:57). Right behind them were Maddox Hudson (9th, 19:38) and Owen Farner (10th, 20:15).

In the girls race, Allegany-Limestone captured 1st place with a score of 25. Gowanda was right behind in 2nd Place with 45 edging out Frewsburg (50 points). Again, Falconer and Cattaraugus-Little Valley were not included in the scoring. Finishing in the Top 5 for Gowanda were Calie Hudson (2nd, 20:25) and Autumn Pupo (5th, 21:30). Also scoring for the Gowanda girls were Karice John (11th, 25:08), Alhanna Gabel (13th, 26:17) and Willow Mentley-Peters (14th, 26:28).

Finally on the 19th the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team hosted Portville. It was another tough day for the Pine Valley boys. Down 1-0 after the 1st quarter, they were in a 2-0 hole at halftime. Portville doubled their score in the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley failed to score in the game and Portville padded their score in the final quarter with three more goals for a 7-0 final.

[photo] Screenshot from the Franklinville live stream of the September 18 girls soccer game with Pine Valley/Gowanda (in white).

The Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team got a huge win at Franklinville on September. They picked up their first win of the year in a shutout.

While the ball control issues haven’t been solved, Pine Valley/Gowanda was able to keep the ball in the Franklinville end of the field for a majority of the game. That translated into more shots on goal and more points scored. It was a sluggish 1st half with the ball going up and down the field without many shot opportunities for either team. Just over 28 minutes into the game and with 11:56 on the clock, Pine Valley got the break they needed. The Franklinville goalkeeper moved way out to the front of the goal area trying to grab the ball only to have it kicked off to the side. That gave Pine Valley nearly an open goal to shoot at. Ashley Irwin took the shot. The Franklinville goalkeeper rushed back making a diving attempt at a save only to have the ball land in the net. Lauren Hostetter was credited with an assist. Pine Valley/Gowanda was up 1-0. The score remained unchanged into halftime.

Just 2:03 into the 2nd half, a corner kick set up a Pine Valley score by Samantha Collins with assist from Alexa Harvey. Less than a minute later Sarah Kruszka made the score 3-0 with an assist from Katie King. That score would stand until there was just 9:28 left in the game. Lauren Hostetter launched the ball over the Franklinville goalkeeper’s head and into the net. The 4-0 score held up as the final.

It was a relatively easy day for Pine Valley goal keeper, Destiny Lindquist. Instead of facing the usual 20+ shots during a game, Franklinville only managed 9 shots on goal. In contrast Pine Valley/Gowanda targeted the goal 13 times to get 4 scores.

At this point in the season, the team point leaders include representation from both Pine Valley and Gowanda. Pine Valley’s Sarah Kruszka has 13 points on 5 goals and 2 assists. Not far behind, Gowanda’s Samantha Collins has 7 points with 3 goals and 1 assist.

On Saturday, September 16, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team hosted Silver Creek for a non-league game. Three and a half minutes into the game Silver Creek got the first goal of the game. They went on to grab a 2-0 lead through the 1st quarter. That score held through a scoreless 2nd quarter to the halftime intermission. Pine Valley narrowed the gap to 2-1 in the 3rd as Jack Sheldon scared at 31:00 assisted by Jarrett Meyers. Silver Creek answered with a pair of goals of their own. After a scoreless 4th quarter, the final score stood at 4-1 with Silver Creek taking the win.