Gowanda Small Town Times

Jamestown Business College recently announced the President’s and Dean’s Lists for the fall 2023 term. One Perrysburg student was recognized on the President’s list for having earned a 3.90 or better grade point average. Her name is Ariel Stevens.

The first week in January 2024 came to a rough ending on Friday, January 5. Both the Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team and the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team had problematic road games.

The Gowanda boys were at Springville for a non-league match-up. Springville got off to a quick start much like Gowanda hads often done to other teams. Springville ran up the first six points in the game before Trelin Warrior scored Gowanda’s first two points. Gowanda later closed the gap to 8-5 with a Quentin Centner 3-pointer, but it was all downhill from there. Gowanda was down 24-10 after one quarter. A slightly better 2nd Quarter saw that gap narrowed to 37-26 at halftime. Gowanda was unable to recover from that deficient and took a 71-56 loss. Quentin Centner accumulated four 3-pointers in the game towards a total of 24 points. Trelin Warrior contributed 15 points including a 3-pointer. Seth Geiger landed two shots from 3-point range for six points. Also scoring for Gowanda were Troy Jimerson (9 points) and Blake Herman (2 points).

Friday the 5th also gave the girls team problems as they were at the Pioneer Tournament. Their first game was against the host team. It was a major mismatch with the very tall and athletic Pioneer girls in control of the game from the start. Pioneer scored the first four points in the game. A Corrina John 3-pointer narrowed the score to 4-3. Points were hard to come by for Gowanda leaving them down 15-7 after a quarter and 30-13 at halftime. Springville rolled over Gowanda 22-0 in the 3rd Quarter ballooning their lead to 52-13 at that point A relatively slow final period gave Pioneer a 59-15 win. Gowanda’s only two points in the 2nd half came from Marissa Beaver with 50 seconds left in the game. Corrina John had a pair of 1st half 3-pointers for 6 points before going silent in the 2nd half. Karice John also had a 3-pointer in the first half. With two points each in the game were Lauren Kelly, Christina Wilder and Marissa Beaver.

The Gowanda girls were back at the Pioneer Tournament on the 6th facing Holland in the Consolation Game. This turned out to be a more even match-up, but still another loss. Outscored 9-1 in the 1st Quarter, Gowanda was in a hole they wouldn’t note climb out of. It was 16-6 at halftime on the way to a 38-24 final. Karice John led Gowanda with 6 points including a 3-pointer. Lauren Kelly had four points. Corina John, Marissa Beaver and Layla Gamble each contributed a 3-pointer to the Gowanda scoring. Also scoring for Gowanda were Lily Scanlan (2 points), Autumn Pupo (2 points) and Christina wilder (1 point).

Only the Gowanda bowling teams had winning efforts on Friday the 5th. They hosted West Valley at Gowanda’s K&L Lanes. Both the boys and girls teams came away with 4-0 wins. For the boys, it was with games of 821-702, 855-783 and 975-680 for a match total of 2651-2165. Gowanda’s top bowler was Nicholas Smuda (170-172-185/527). Also bowling for the Gowanda boys were Gavin Whitcher (149-131-163/443), Morgan Ruff (144-151-145/440), Kory Degenfelder (108-155-166/429), Drezden Spire (139-118-165/422) and Zachary Hojnacki (111-128-151/390).

The Gowanda girls got their win with games of 681-517, 729-514 and 747-535 for a match total of 2157-1566. Bowling full sets for the Gowanda girls were Bailey Shields (132-149-145/426), Aubrie Smuda (120-145-142/407), Sierra Twoguns (130-143-113/368) and Makayla Kuras (110-127-137/374). Bowling a pair of games were Natalia Elliott (87 & 112) and Emma Golden (82 and 98). Rolling single games during the match were Lila Offenbach (107) and Tayleigh Williams (78).

In other week ending sports. Gowanda Wrestlers were also busy. The team was at the 7th Annual NYSPHSAA Section VI Dual Meet Wrestling Championships on January 6 at Niagara County Community College. Chautauqua Lake was the overall winner with Gowanda coming in 4th ahead of 5th place Wilson in Division 2. Gowanda lost to Newfane 37-29 after beating Wilson 59-18 in the Consolation Rounds. Previously, the had lost a Semi-Final match to Chautauqua Lake 73-0.

Gowanda was also represented at the Ripley Invitational on the 6th. Gowanda’s Kiernan Quinn took a 2nd place in the girls 152 weight class. She registered pins in both Championship Round 1 and the Semi-Final Round. Those wins came, respectively, against Anahi DeJesus (Dunkirk, 1:34) and Avary LeGrano (Fredonia, 3:42). In the 1st Place Match, Quinn dropped a 17-8 Major Decision to Bella Andes (Lockport).

On January 4th Gowanda Varsity boys basketball team saw the first action in 2024 after the Winter break. They were on the road at Falconer.

As has been typical for Gowanda, they got off to a fast start. Gowanda won the opening tip-off, but the ball went directly to a Falconer player who quickly scored. With an additional point on a foul shot, Falconer had the first three points in the game. Gowanda answered right back. A pair of Quentin Centner scores followed by a Trelin Warrior 3-pointer launched Gowanda into the lead 7-3. The Centner/Warrior combo soon had Gowanda up 13-7 on the way to a 19-9 advantage after one quarter of play.

A stingy 2nd Quarter followed. Both teams scored just 8 points in the period with Gowanda reaching that total with another Warrior 3-point shot, this time from the far right corner near the end of the period. At halftime the score stood at 27-17. Gowanda stumbled in the 3rd Quarter while Falconer came up with their best quarter of the game. With 1:50 left in the quarter, Gowanda had only added another Warrior 3-pointer to their tally while Falconer had gone on a 12-point run. Things were tense with the Gowanda lead squashed down to 30-29. As the clock ticked down to 0:28, Centner landed his first 3-pointer of the game. He had a second 3-point basket in the final quarter as Gowanda went on a 20-4 run that ballooned their lead to 50-33 with 1:02 left in the game. One final Falconer 3-pointer left the final score at 50-36.

Top scorer for Gowanda was Trelin Warrior with 21 points. Not too far behind was Quentin Centner with 13 points. Also scoring for Gowanda were Blake Herman (4 points), Troy Jimerson (4 points), Logan Ruff (3 points) and Seth Geiger (2 points).

Earlier in the day on the 4th, the Gowanda Varsity bowling teams hosted Allegany-Limestone. The Gowanda boys continued their dominant showing on the season rolling over Allegany-Limestone by a series score of 2752-2101. Once again, two Gowanda boys rolled 500-range series including Nicholas Smuda (200-191-172/563) and Morgan Ruff (234-170-151/555). Not far behind were Kory Degenfelder (142-150-166/458) and Gavin Whitcher (147-168-132/447). Bowling just a pair of games were Zachary Hojnacki (143 &114), Aiden Gray (138&114) and Drezden Spire (123 &97).

The Gowanda girls had a much closer match. The won Games 1 and 3, but lost Game 2 for a 3-1 win (2403-2331). Top Gowanda girl was Aubrey Smuda (150-177-199/526). Also bowling full sets were Bailey Shields (136-158-183/477), Makayla Kuras (116-125-138/379) and Sierra Twoguns (130/121/107/358). Bowling a pair of games were Lila Offenbach (153&96) and Tayleigh Williams 100&107). Two girls contributed single games: Natalia Elliott (115) and Emma Golden (92).

[photo] Gowanda wrestler, Michael Horth, got his 100th career win on January 3 at home against Franklinville. The event was celebrated during the meet with posters, balloons and applause.

The 2024 part of the Gowanda/Pine Valley Varsity wrestling season went off in style on January 3. The team not only secured a huge, 58-18 win, but also got to celebrate a career milestone with one of their own. Michael Horth reached the 100 wins mark on the night.

The meet opened with Gowanda/Pine Valley taking a loss by pin at 285. Things evened up quickly as Zach Stark (101) got a win by forfeit to even the score at 6-6. Franklinville earned another 6 points with a quick pin in the 108 class. At 116, Nakotah Jackson answered for Gowanda/Pine Valley After building a 10-0 point advantage, Jackson secured a win by pin with 17 seconds left in the 1st period. That tied the match at 12-12. Gowanda/Pine Valley went on a run with the next five wrestlers all gaining wins by pin. They included Owen Pfaffenbach (124, 3:08) over Derek Ossont, Greg Reid (131, 5:54) over Tyrnan Farrington, Faolon Quinn (138, 1:55) over Gunner Jochen, Nathan Warrior (145, 1:17) over Dakota Miller and Maddox Hudson (152, 0:50) over Nathan Nicholas.

With Gowanda/Pine Valley now in front 42-12 it was time for the highlight match of the night as Gowanda’s Michael Horth (160) set out to win for the 100th time in his career. Things started out slow with Horth only up 2-0 after the 1st period. He managed to build up a 7-0 point advantage through the 2nd period. While Horth failed to get a pin in the match, he did secure a 9-0 Major Decision for win #100. The match was paused at that point in order to recognize the milestone accomplishment.

Once the applause and photos were over the match resumed with Franklinville gaining one final win by pin at 170. With the match out of reach 46-18 there were still two more matches to be decided. At 190, Gowanda/Pine Valley’s Matthew Grill was in a tight battle with Franklinville’s Trent Borden. A slim 5-4 1st period advantage for Grill went unchanged for most of the next period. With 30 seconds left min the 2nd period, Grill managed to lock down a win by pin. The final match turn out to be a very exciting finale. It was Gowanda/Pine Valley’s Brody Mescall against Franklinville’s Levi Jennings. After scoring an initial takedown, Jennings seemed to be completely in control of the match for most of the 1st period. From a position on top, Jennings appeared to miss on an attempted move causing him to side off. Mescall quickly took advantage of the opening to gain control of the match and change a 0-2 point deficit to a 4-2 advantage. It was all Mescall in the 2nd period. He battled into a 14-4 point advantage before gaining a pin with just under 8 seconds left in the 2nd period. Gowanda/Pine Valley had secured a 58-18 win in their 2024 opener.

[photo] Pictured is Gowanda’s Autumn Pupo (#15) racing up court with the ball early in the January 2 home game against North Collins.

Now that 2024 has arrived and the school’s Winter Break is over it’s time to get back to Varsity sports. The first game in 2024 for Gowanda was played by the Gowanda Varsity girls basketball team. They hosted North Collins for a non-league game on January 2. Despite a blistering pace in the 1st Quarter, it turned out to be a low-scoring affair.

After giving up the first four points of the game to North Collins, Gowanda rallied back. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Layla Gamble and Corrina John separated by a single North Collins foul shot, saw Gowanda move in front 6-5. Things remained close with Gowanda still up by a point at 11-10 when John landed a second 3-point shot with 1:30 left in the quarter. A final North Collins score ended the opening quarter with Gowanda ahead 14-12.

Gamble and John would not land another 3-pointer the rest of the way and Gowanda’s scoring pace dropped to just over 7.5 points per quarter the rest of the way. Gowanda still kept North Collins under control for most of the 2nd quarter. Although the game was tied twice in the period, North Collins never saw a lead. It took a North Collins score with 0:32 left in the half to cut Gowanda’s lead back to 21-20 at halftime.

Gowanda came out strong in the 3rd Quarter outscoring North Collins 9-3. Gowanda had their biggest lead of the game, 30-23, going into the final period. Back-to-back North Collins 3-pointers to open the 4th Quarter dropped Gowanda’s lead back to a single point again, 30-29. At this point, there was a strange turn of events. Gowanda ended the North Collins burst as Devan Giambrone scored from the right side of the basket seemingly just outside of the 3-point ring. [see below] That score did not immediately appear on the scoreboard. A following quick North Collins score from under the basket saw the scoreboard showing 30-33. The game was stopped at that point and the score was adjusted to 32-31. A foul shot added to the North Collins basket had the game tied at 32. North Collins outscored Gowanda 17-7 in the final quarter to win the game 40-37.

Despite being held scoreless in the final period, Corrina John still led the scoring for Gowanda with 16 points. Right behind were Lauren Kelly (7 points) and Layla Gamble (5 points). Also scoring for Gowanda were Karice John (3 points), Jules Hageman (3 points), Devan Giambrone 2 points (should have been 3?) and Christina Wilder (1 point)

Pictured above is Devan Giambrone scoring from what appears to be 3-point range. She was only credited 2 points for the 4th Quarter shot. Screenshot from the Gowanda live stream of the game.