Gowanda Small Town Times

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[photo: Gowanda quarterback Carter Capozzi (#2) takes off running with the ball accompanied by Camryn Slade (#33) during a Friday 13th home game against Cattaraugus-Little Valley]

The Gowanda Varsity football team celebrated the 2024 home opener on September 13 with a “Blackout Game” theme night. The Gowanda fans were asked to wear black on that Friday the 13th night. In the end Gowanda came out on top 46-6. Before the game Cattaraugus coach, and Gowanda graduate, Mark Benton was acknowledged and some of his high school achievements were recounted.

The first quarter of the game was indeed a Friday the 13th horror show for Cattaraugus. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. In their first series, the Cattaraugus quarterback was rolling out to his left on a 4th and 3 on their 33 with a pair of Gowanda defenders in hot pursuit. Without being touched, the quarterback dropped the ball, which was recovered by Gowanda on the Cattaraugus 21.

The next Cattaraugus drive ended with a 4th and 19 punt that Gowanda returned for a touchdown. Early in the 2nd quarter, after a Gowanda score that boosted their total to 34-0, a low Gowanda kickoff hit a Cattaraugus lineman directly in the chest sending it straight back at the Gowanda kicker for an easy recovery. The Cattaraugus team had issues all through the 1st half with the Gowanda defense constantly in their backfield. At halftime, Gowanda held a comfortable 34-6 lead with the only Cattaraugus points in the game coming with 26 seconds left in the half.

It was mostly a matter of coasting from there while taking advantage of opportunities that came along. Gowanda’s last drive ended on a 4th and goal play on the Cattaraugus 18. The Gowanda fake field goal/run turned the ball back over to Cattaraugus on the 6. They were only as far as the 9 as time ran out in the game with 46-6 showing on the scoreboard.

Gowanda quarterback, Carter Capozzi (pictured above) completed 11 of 20 passes for 176 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also carried the ball twice, once for 8 yards and a second time for 56 yards.

The rest of the Gowanda rushing stats include:
Camryn Slade - 7 Carries, 52 Yards, Longest 31 yards
Zane Rogers - 7 Carries, 73 Yards, Longest 65 yards
Greg Reid - 6 Carries, 23 Yards, Longest 12 yards
Brayden Smith - 3 Carries, 82 Yards, Longest 36 yards,1 TD
Jayden Fish - 2 Carries, 10 Yards, Longest 12 yards
Damien Cedri - 1 Carries, 8 Yards, Longest 8 yards, 1 TD
Mason Wilson - 1 Carries, 3 Yards, Longest 3 yards, 1 TD
Winter Mentley-Peters - 1 Carries, 15 Yards, Longest 15 yards

Gowanda receiving stats include:
Brayden Smith - 3 Receptions, 35 Yards, Longest 14 yards, 2 TDs
Reginald Irion - 3 Carries, 36 Yards
Winter Rivera - 2 Carries, 17 Yards, Longest 9 yards, 1 TD
Kyan Austin - 2 Carries, 19 Yards, Longest 10 yards
Winter Mentley-Peters - 1 Carry 69 Yards 1 TD

The Gowanda boys and girls Cross Country teams were at Fredonia on Tuesday, September 10. Both groups finished in 1st Place as a team. The boys had a team score of 28 followed by Fredonia (44), Falconer/Cassadaga Valley (68) and Salamanca (90). Individually, five Gowanda boys finished in the Top 10. They were Chase Bolen (1st,17:37), Cashis Montour (3rd), Dustin Mohawk (5th), Joseph Fernandes (7th) and Aiden George (10th).
The Gowanda girls had a team score of 25 followed by Fredonia (44) and Falcomer/Cassadaga Valley (59). Salamanca was incomplete. Individually, Gowanda placed four girls in the Top 10. They were Rhianna Woods (3rd), Gus John (4th), Karice John (5th) and Lilly Pierce (9th).

The Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team was at Ellicottville on Tuesday, September 10. The team took an 8-0 loss giving up four goals in each half of play. In goal for Pine Valley/Gowanda for 75 of 80 minutes, Destiny Lindquist stopped 26 of the 32 Ellicottville shots on goal. Taylor Yoder was in goal for the remaining five minutes shopping 4 of 6 shots. The Ellicottville goal tender had an easy day facing only two shots all game.

The girls team hosted Franklinville on Thursday, September 12. A 1st half goal by Sarah Kruszka gave Pine Valley/Gowanda a 1-0 early lead. Julianna Yasurek was credited with an assist on the score.
Destiny Lindquist in goal for Pine Valley stopped all 11 shots on goal she faced to secure the shutout win.

The Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team hosted Ellicottville on Wednesday, September 11. Hayden Chase scored Pine Valley/Gowanda’s only goal with a minute left in the 1st half. Andres Morillas was credited with an assist on the goal. The goal made the score 1-6 at the half. Three additional 2nd half Ellicottville goals took the final score to 1-9.

After a year without Gowanda girls participating in swim competition, Gowanda girls are back swimming with the Eden Varsity swimming team. The following Gowanda girls are reportedly included: Lilaeve Jankowski (Freshman), Danielle Krajewski (Senior) and Kaevil Yasurek (Junior). The Eden swim team hosted Maryvale on Thursday, September 12, coing away with a 86-46 victory.

Individual Eden results
1st Mia Scott - 4 gold (50 Freestyle/27.94, 1M diving/170.80 pts., 200 Medley Relay team and 200 Freestyle Relay team) for 12 pts.
3rd Brynn Mikac - 3 gold (500 Freestyle/7:21.77, 200 Medley Relay team and 200 Freestyle Relay team) and 1 silver(100 Breaststroke/1:33.26) for 10 points
4th Abby Laverdi - 2 gold (200 Freestyle/2:33.58 & 200 Medley Relay team) and 1 silver (50 Freestyle/30.26) for 10 points
6th Kay Lindstrom - 3 gold (100 Freestyle/1:07.61, 200 & 400 Freestyle Relay teams) for 8 points
7th Lilaeve Jankowski - 2 gold (100 Backstroke/1:39.28 & 400 Freestyle relay team) for 8 points; She also was 4th in the100 Freestyle with a time of 1:20.24, just 0:01.26 off the 3rd Place time.
9th Kaevil Yasurek - 1 gold (400 Freestyle relay team) and 2 bronze (200 Freestyle/3:05.02 & 100 Breaststroke/1:43.09) for 6 points
10th Sienna Miller - 2 gold (200 Medley & 200 Freestyle Relay teams) and 1 silver (100 Freestyle/1:10.58) for 4 points
11th Tessa Dzubella - 1 gold (400 Freestyle Relay team) and 1 silver (100 Backstroke/1:49.75) for 4 points

[photo: Addison Kota reached down for a dig during the September 9 home volleyball game against Falconer

The Gowanda Varsity volleyball team traveled to Falconer on Monday, September 9. While both teams were 2-0 coming into the contest, Falconer had faced stiffer competition and was a big challenge for Gowanda. Falconer set the tone building an early 9-1 lead in the first set. The Gowanda production improved past that point, but not enough to prevent Falconer from winning the first set 25-12.

Gowanda led 1-0 and 2-1 early in the second set before Falconer spurted ahead to lead 13-5. The Golden Falcons advantage maxed out at 21-11. Gowanda was able to come back a little, but not enough to stop Falconer from closing out a 25-19 win. Down 2 sets to 0, Gowanda entered the critical third set. Again Falconer slowly built a lead. Gowanda was down 14-24 when they went on a final push. After stealing a potential match-winning point away from Falconer, Elizabeth Green came up to serve for Gowanda. The team piled up 8 consecutive points, including a pair of aces, to bring the score to 23-24. Falconer stopped the run there locking up a 25-23 win in the set and a 3-0 match win.

Topping the Gowanda effort were Holland Browning (7 kills, 13 digs, 1 ace), Addison Kota (6 kills, 2 assists, 7 digs, 1 ace) and Jillian Gernatt (17 assists, 5 digs). The rest of the team stats are as follows: Corrina John (3 kills, 3 blocks), Elizabeth Green (3 kills, 7 digs, 4 aces), Lauren Kelly (2 kills), Sydney Smith (6 digs), Tessa Kohn (5 digs) and Maleina Maines (2 digs).

The next day, September 10, the team looked to rebound as they traveled to Ellicottville. The Gowanda girls got off to a slow start and trailed for most of the first set. They did manage to pull into a tie at 22-22 before Ellicottville pulled away for a 25-22 win. Gowanda regrouped and proceeded to dominate the second set taking a 25-10 victory. The team went on to win the next two sets by identical 25-15 scores to capture the match 3-1.

Leading Gowanda were Corrina John (11 kills, 9 blocks), Addison Kota (10 kills, 1 assist, 5 digs), Elizabeth Green (8 kills, 1 ace), Holland Browning (6 kills, 6 digs 1 block) and Jillian Gernatt (3 kills, 25 assists, 1 dig). Other stats include Lauren Kelly (4 kills, 3 aces, 2 blocks), Bella Maines (11 assists), Cadence Luther (1 kill, 2 blocks), Sydney Smith (6 digs), Aubrey Smuda (5 digs, 1 ace), Maleina Maines (3 digs, 1 ace) and Tessa Kohn (1 dig).

Closing out the week, the girls volleyball team was Cassadaga Valley on Friday, September 13. The pattern remained the same, a bit of a slow start, followed but a big rebound and cruising to victory. Set scores were 25-20, 25-12 and 25-15 for a 3-0 match win.

Top stats go to Lauren Kelly (4 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace, 4 blocks), Holland Browning (3 kills, 1 dig, 2 aces), Addison Kota (2 kills, 4 digs, 3 aces, 1 block), Elizabeth Green (3 kills, 1 dig), Corrina John (3 kills) and Jillian Gernatt (12 assists, 1 ace). Also making a mark in the game were Maleina Moses (2 kills), Aubrey Smuda (2 aces), Sydney Smith (2 digs, 3 aces), Bella Maines (2 assists) and Cadence Luther (1 block).

Monday, September 9

Volleyball at Falconer
Gowanda 0, Falconer 3
12-25/19-25/23-25

Tuesday, September 10

Volleyball at Ellicottville
Gowanda 3, Ellicottville 1
22-25/25-10/25-15/25-15

Cross Country at Fredonia
Boys Teams
1st Gowanda 28
2nd Fredonia 44
3rd Falconer/Cassadaga Valley 68
4th Salamanca 90
—
Girls Teams
1st Gowanda 25
2nd Fredonia 44
3rd Falcomer/Cassadaga Valley 59
Salamanca incomplete

Pine Valley/Gowanda girls Soccer at Ellicottville
Pine Valley/Gowanda 0, Ellicottville 8

Wednesday, September 11

Pine Valley/Gowanda boys soccer vs. Ellicottville
Pine Valley/Gowanda 1, Ellicottville 9

Thursday, September 12

Eden(/Gowanda) girls swimming vs. Maryvale
Eden 86, Maryvale 46

Pine Valley/Gowanda girls soccer vs. Franklinville
Pine Valley 1, Franklinville 0

Friday, September 13

Football vs. Cattaraugus-L.V.
- Blackout Game -
Gowanda 46, Cattaraugus 6

Volleyball at Cassadaga Valley
Gowanda 3, Cassadaga Valley 0
25-20/52-12/25-15