Gowanda Small Town Times

[photo] During halftime of the January 22 home basketball game versus Cassadaga Valley, members of the 2023 Gowanda Varsity softball team were recognized as New York State Champions. Members of the team and coaches were presented with championship rings and, later, posed with them. Photo courtesy of the GCS Athletic Department.

Monday, January 22, was a very special day for Gowanda sports. The Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team and the Gowanda wrestling team both got wins. Additionally, Gowanda’s Champion 2023 Varsity Softball team was recognized and presented with championship rings.

The Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team got off to a fast start. After playing to an early 4-4 tie score, a Trelin Warrior 3-pointer ignited a Gowanda spurt that put them up 11-4. Quentin Centner and Blake Herman also hit from 3-point range in the period as Gowanda ran up a 23-9 advantage in the 1st Quarter.

The Gowanda offense cooled down in a 2nd Quarter effort that produced only 12 points. Meanwhile, Cassadaga Valley went on the attack. With four 3-pointers in the quarter, Cassadaga Valley matched Gowanda’s 1st quarter production of 23 points. That tightened the game to 35-32 by halftime.

Most of the intermission was taken up by the softball ceremony. Members of the 2023 Championship team were called onto the court and individually named and presented with rings to mark their achievement. The coaches also received championship rings before the group was gathered for a photo.

Back to basketball. the 3rd Quarter was the tightest of the game. Cassadaga Valley came out fast and quickly grabbed a brief 38-37 lead. Seth Geiger stepped up to answer for Gowanda. He landed back-to-back 3-pointers taking the lead back for Gowanda. A Centner basket upped the Gowanda advantage to 45-38. Cassadaga Valley rallied again cutting Gowanda’s lead to 46-45. The period ended with both teams accumulating 15 points taking the score to 50-47.

Trelin Warrior was the hero of the final quarter for Gowanda. For the first half of the period, he was the only player to score for Gowanda preventing Cassadaga Valley from getting the lead back. Warrior ran up 9 points, including a 3-pointer and going 2-for-2 from the foul line. Gowanda was up 59-54 at that point. Cassadaga Valley again closed to within one at 61-60 with 15.5 seconds left in the game. Inbounding the ball and needing to just kill of the remaining seconds, Gowanda was called for traveling with 10.3 seconds left. After a timeout, Gowanda came up big with a smothering effort that frustrated Cassdaga Valleys effort to get a shot as time expired. Leading the Gowanda effort were Quentin Centner (23 points) and Trelin Warrior (12 points). Also scoring for Gowanda were Troy Jimerson (9 points, including a 3-pointer), Seth Geiger (8 points), Blake Herman (5 points) and Logan Ruff (4 points).

January 22 also saw the Gowanda wrestling team at Frewsburg. The team scored a 63-12 victory in the meet. Six Gowanda wrestlers scored wins by pin including Owen Pfaffenbach (124) over Lilyanna Stappenbeck, Greg Reid (131) over Connor Campion, Jayden Fish (138) over Drake Beckstrom and Maddox Hudson (170) over Griffen Lewis. Alanson Stafford (285) won a 5-4 Decision over Hunter Winters. Six Gowanda wrestlers received forfeit wins including Mark Smallback (108), Faolon Quinn (145), Nathan Warrior (152), Winter Mentley-Peters (160), Matthew Grill (190) and Jayden John (215). Gowanda lost matches at 101 and 116.

The Annual Gowanda Round Robin Wrestling Tournament was held on January 20, 2024. Hosted by the Gowanda Varsity wrestling team, schools in attendance included Falconer-Cassadaga Valley, Portville, Maple Grove, Fredonia, Niagara Wheatfield, Wellsville, North Tonawanda, Olean-Alleghany Limestone, Honeoye Falls-Lima, Randolph, Frewsburg, Dunkirk, Salamanca, Lockport, Franklinville, Alden, Alexander, Iroquois and Orchard Park. This was an individual round robin tournament which allowed a school to enter multiple wrestlers at any weights class. Team scores were based on the total performance of wrestlers from each team represented. Finishing in 1st Place was Falconer-Cassadaga Valley with 193.5 total points. Gowanda finished 6th with 152.0 points. Down in 14th Place was Salamanca with 56.5 points.

Gowanda had three wrestlers in the 131 weight class which was led by Faolan Quinn with 34 points for the team and a 4th Place finish in the class. Quinn secured four wins by pin before getting pinned by Maple Grove’s Jaxon Kraft in the 3rd Place match. Those wins by pin came against Domanik Clark (Randolph, 2:00), Jayden Fish (Gowanda, 0:18), Aiden Richardson (Portville, 1:06) and Greg Reid (Gowanda, 1:23). Fish and Reid earned 26 and 13 points, respectively, for their performances in the class.

The second largest individual point total for Gowanda came from Owen Pfaffenbach (29 points) in the 124 class with a 4th Place finish. He lost a 15-5 Decision to Gabe Lundmark in the 3rd Place match after accumulating three wins. Those wins came against Elisha Hall (Portville, 17-3 Major Decision), Mitchel Schnaufer (Salamanca, 8-7 Decision) and Connor Campion (Frewsburg, 15-2 Major Decision). The 124 class also saw Gowanda’s Brendin Diebel pick up 19 points for the team before being eliminated.

Also standing out for Gowanda was Michael Horth (160) who totaled 14 points and took a 3rd Place finish. Horth pinned Owen Stanley, (Alden, 2:46) and Brenden MacWilliams (Franklinville, 1:26). He also won a 13-0 Major Decision against Devin Herman (Frankilnville) on the way to the Championship rounds. He lost an 11-2 Major Decision to Dylan Gagnon (North Tonawanda), who finished in 1st Place, in the 1st Championship Round. In the 3rd Champion Round, Horth lost to Falconer-Cassadaga Valley’s Mason Kilmer by Medical Forfeit to finish in 3rd Place.

Also scoring for the Gowanda boys were Jayden John (215) 7 points, Nathan Warrior (138) 4 points and Maddox Hudson (152) 2 points.

Gowanda also had one girl, Kiernan Quinn, participate at the tournament in the girls 152 class. She pinned her way to a 1st Place finish in that class. Those pins came against Eva Heineman (Alexander, 5:07), Kira Huett (Alden, 1:21), Addaline Grayson (Dunkirk, 3:56) and Bella Andes (Lockport, 1:19).

It seems like a fatalistic cloud has engulfed the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team. Game after game their performance continues fall well short of the individual abilities of the players. On January 19, the team was at Randolph as this trend continued to unfold.

A minute into the game, Christina Wider scored for Gowanda. Corrina John added another two points and Gowanda was up 4-0. Late lead did not last long. Sloppy passing contributed to numerous Gowanda turnovers as Randolph pulled in front 9-4. Gowanda closed to 9-6 with Wilder’s 2nd score. It would be her last points in the game and Gowanda’s last points of the 1st Quarter. Meanwhile, Randolph went on tear pushing their lead to 31-6 before the period ended. Randolph scored the 1st twelve points in the 2nd quarter before Gowanda went on a 7-point run of their own. Randolph added another four points to close out the half up 47-13.

Randolph started out hot in the 3rd Quarter with a 7-point surge including two 3-pointers. John answered for Gowanda with back-to-back 3-point shots. The second of those coming from way outside of the 3-point ring. The Randolph total grew to 61 in the quarter before Gowanda’s Devan Giambrone hit a 3-pointer to close out the period. With the score 61-22 as the final quarter began, the game was essentially over. Gowanda added another 6 points in the period while Randolph upped their tally by 14. The final score was 75-28. Corrina John had 16 points for Gowanda including three 3-point baskets and hitting three of four from the foul line. The rest of the Gowanda scoring came from Lauren Kelly (5 points), Christina Wilder (4 points) and Devan Giambrone (3 points)

The Gowanda Varsity bowling boys and girls teams were also busy on January 19. They hosted Ellicottville at K&L Lanes in Gowanda. As of this writing, the Gowanda scores have not been reported. This article will be updated as those become available.

[photo] Gowanda’s Quentin Centner (#1) is seen driving towards the hoop early during the January 16 home game versus Frewsburg. Also seen is Trelin Warrior (#11).

On January 16, both the Gowanda Varsity girls and boys basketball teams were in action. While the girls issues on offense have been ongoing the boys have also had issues lately. Both teams took significant losses on the day.

The Gowanda Varsity boys basketball saw the only home action of week for the school on January 16 hosting Frewsburg. Gowanda’s Quentin Centner opened the scoring in the game from 3-point range. Three more Centner scores, including a second 3-pointer had Gowanda up 10-7. That margin grew to 12-7 with a basket from Blake Herman. Frewsburg fought back tightening the game to 18-15 by the end of the 1st Quarter. In a relatively tightly contested 2nd Quarter, Frewsburg gradually worked their way into their own 37-29 lead. The Frewsburg momentum continued into the 3rd Quarter where they outpaced Gowanda 27-18. Going into the final quarter with 64-47 Frewsburg lead, an even exchange of points moved the totals forward through the middle of the period. A very late Gowanda surge closed the gap to 84-74 by the final buzzer. The last three points coming from Seth Geiger from long distance. Leading the Gowanda offense were Quentin Centner (32 points) and Trelin Warrior (19 points).Center totaled five 3-pointers in the game with Warrior also having one. Also scoring for Gowanda were Seth Geiger (9 points), Troy Jimerson (8 points), and Blake Herman (6 points).

While the boys were hosting Frewsburg, the Gowanda girls were at Frewsburg. After a one game absence, the team had their top scorer, Corrina John, back for the game. In some ways that was a mixed blessing as the rest of the team tends to defer to her, when she is in the game, rather than taking shots themselves. It was a quick Gowanda start with Corrina John and Layla Gamble both hitting 3-pointers to open the scoring. That 6-0 lead quickly faded as Frewsburg scored the next 11 points. Although John did land a second 3-point shot in the period, Gowanda was still down 27-13 at the end of he quarter. Frewsburg rolled over Gowanda for the rest of the game. An 18-5 scoring advantage had Frewsburg up 45-18 by halftime. The assault continued with Frewsburg controlling the 3rd and 4th Quarters 23-8 and 16-0, respectively. Corrina John had 17 points in the game to lead Gowanda. In addition to Gamble’s early 3-pointer for her only points in the game, two other Gowanda girls contributed to the scoring. They were Lauren Kelly (4 points) and Karice John (2 points).

Also on the 16th, the Gowanda Varsity bowling teams were at Genesee Valley. The Gowanda boys dropped to 8-1 with their first loss of the season 3-1 with Genesse Valley getting off to a slow start in game one. Game scores in the match were 888-873, 974-1133 and 990-1062 for a match total of 2852-3068. Grouped very tightly the bowling for Gowanda were Gavin Whitcher (139-206-180/525), Drezden Spire (145-151-199/495), Morgan Ruff (176-153-148/477), Kory Degenfelder (165-146-158/469), Zachary Hojnacki (127-149-171/447) and Nicholas Smuda (136-169-134/439).

The Gowanda girls recorded a 4-0 victory over a Genesee Valley team that fielded only three bowlers. The other three spots were filled by absentee bowlers using previous averages. Gowanda also used one absentee bowler in the match with a 137 average (x3) for a 411 series. Game scores in the match were
780-699, 698-593 and 694-590 for pin totals of 2172-1882. Bowling full sets for Gowanda were Bailey Sheilds (194-127-135/453), Emma Golden (125-130-92/347), Tayleigh Williams (89-129-128/346), Lila Offenbach (100-101-134/335) and Natalia Elliott (135-74-71/280).

[photo] Gowanda’s Karice John (#14) races down court with the ball during a January 12 home game against Falconer. Also seen is Alhanna Gabel (#3).

On Thursday, January 11, the Gowanda Varsity bowling teams traveled to Allegany-Limestone. It was one of their few away matches this season. The Gowanda boys team upped their record to 8-0 on the season while the girls slipped to 5-3 with a loss.

The Gowanda boys got off to a slow start with an 800-873 loss in Game 1. It was their lowest total of the night. The boys went on to take the next two games by scores of 883-872 and 874-780 to also win on total pins 2557-2525. The 3-1 win moved their record to 8-0. Top 5 bowlers for the Gowanda boys were Kory Degenfelder (188-150-161/499), Nicholas Smuda (126-181-177/484), Gavin Whitcher (102-158-189/449), Drezden Spire (142-144-136/422) and Morgan Ruff (121-151-133/405). Aiden Gray bowled two games (121&99) during the match and Zachary Hojnacki bowled a single game of 78.

The Gowanda girls team was swept 0-4 with game scores of 660-746, 644-734 and 698-814 for a total pins score of 2002-2294. Bowling full sets for the Gowanda girls were Aubrey Smuda (124-130-172/426), Bailey Shields (127-166-131/424), Makayla Kuras (111-107-147/365) and Tayleigh Williams (120-98-92/310). Bowling two games each were Lila Offenbach (75 & 86), Natalia Elliott (103 & 56) and Emma Golden (87 & 70).

The next day, Friday, January 12, the focus was on the Gowanda girls basketball team hosting Falconer. It was another poor showing on offense. After losing two of their top players before the season started, they were also without one of their top scoring threats to this point, Corrina John, for this game.

It was a very strange showing from a Gowanda offense that has serious problems scoring from under the basket. Of their 24-point total in the game, 21 of those came on 3-point shots. It took Falconer almost half of the 1st Quarter to take a 4-0 lead in the game. A Lilly Scanlon 3-pointer for Gowanda narrowed that to 4-3. A Falconer 10-3 advantage was cut to 10-5 as Lauren Kelly scored at the buzzer to end the quarter. That would be Gowanda’s only 2-point basket of the game. Falconer was up 21-15 at halftime on the way to a 46-24 final win. In addition to Scanlan’s 1st Quarter score, she also had a 3-point buzzer beater as the 3rd Quarter ended. Also scoring a pair of 3-point baskets in the game were Karice John and Marissa Beaver. Layla Gamble had a single 3-pointer for Gowanda.