Gowanda Small Town Times

The arrival of September signaled “Back to School” and the start of the Fall Sports season. The Gowanda Varsity volleyball team had the honors of being the first team to see action. They opened their season at home facing off against Cassadaga Valley on September 4. It was all Gowanda in the first set. The home team landed the first three points in the game. That quickly grew to a 7-1 advantage. Making steady progress, they took a 25-8 win to go up 1-0 in the match. The next two game were much closer. In the end, Gowanda won the next two sets by scores of 25-18 and 24-17, respectively. The JVs also won, in a very tight match, by scores of 25-23/25-15/28-26

Leading Gowanda were Lauren Kelly (7 kills, 1 dig, 14 aces), Elizabeth Green (5 kills, 3 digs, 1 ace), Holland Browning (4 kills, 8 digs, 2 aces), Addison Kota (3 kills, 1 assist, 4 digs, 2 aces) and Cadence Luther (3 kills, 1 block). In support were Jillian Gernatt (1 kill, 15 assists, 3 digs, 4 aces), Bella Maines (1 assist), Tessa Kohn (9 digs), Sydney Smith (5 digs, 2 aces) and Maleina Moses (1dig).

The team was off to West Valley/Franklinville on September 5 for a match that was originally scheduled as a JV only affair. Lacking a JV team, West Valley opted to make it Varsity instead. It was a relatively easy outing for Gowanda. The locked down the match 3-0 with set scores of 25-7/25-7/25-9. It was a chance for some of the new members of the team to get more game experience.

Gowanda statistics for the game are as follows:
Cadence Luther 5 kills
Jillian Gernatt 13 assists
Bella Maines 4 assists, 2 digs
Holland Browning 3 kills, 4 digs, 3 aces
Sydney Smith 2 aces
Addison Kota 2 kills, 2 assists, 4 aces
Tessa Kohn 9 digs, 4 aces
Aubrey Smuda 1 ace
Elizabeth Green 4 kills, 8 aces
Lauren Kelly 4 kills, 2 aces, 1 block

The volleyball team closed out their week on Saturday, September 7, at Falconer for a tournament along with 8 other schools. In the opening rounds, Gowanda swept both Clymer and North Collins in straight sets, 2-0. In the Top Bracket, they faced Fort LeBoeuf first. After losing 13-25 in the first set, Gowanda battled through a second set with single-point margins up to a 20-20 tie. From there, LeBoeuf pulled away for a 22-25 win.

That took the team to a meeting with Southwestern in for a single set to 30 points. Gowanda was close in the early going up to an eleven-all tie. After that, Southwestern went on a 9-point run that Gowanda never recovered from. Gowanda ended up taking a 17-30 loss

No statistics were available from the tournament.

The Gowanda/Pine Valley Varsity football team opened their season on Thursday, September 5 in a non-league game at Portville. It was a contest highlighted by a few big plays, but also hampered by numerous penalties. Motion penalties were drive killers for Gowanda with some coming back to back.
Gowanda/Pine Valley found themselves behind early with Portville scoring to go ahead 7-0. Gowanda finally got the ball with 8:31 left in the 1st quarter after a Portville onside kick. Despite being flagged on their first play, Gowanda/Pine Valley managed one first down and progressed as far as the Portville 47 before punting. Portville had built a 21-0 lead when Gowanda/Pine Valley finally got on the board with 4:02 left in the half. A failed 2-point conversion took the score to 21-6. That margin grew to 27-6 by halftime. A more closely contested 3rd quarter saw both teams add 6 points to their tally. Portville added 13 points in the final quarter. Gowanda answered late in the period starting with a 66-yard kickoff return with 2:42 left in the game. Gowanda/Pine/Valley finally reached the end zone with just 33 seconds left. A successful conversion pass brought the score to 46-20. Portville just needed one kneel-down to finalize the game.
No Gowanda stats were reported from the game. Reported Gowanda/Pine Valley highlights start with a 59-yard pass from Carter Capozzi to Reginald Irion for the first half touchdown. Winter Mentley-Peters had a 42-yard touchdown reception in the 3rd quarter. Gowanda-Pine Valley’s final touchdown came on a 5-yard run by Zane Rogers.