Gowanda Small Town Times

On Saturday, September 6, Gowanda’s Cross Country team was at Bemus Point for the Red Dragon Invitational. Gowanda was one of 27 large and small schools attending the event.

Among the 10 small schools, the Gowanda girls finished 7th with a score of 138. The top team was Maple Grove with 43, CLV was in 10th place with 266. Among 91 runners, Gowanda had three girls in the top 25. They were Hayleigh Miller (15th), Raelyn Diebel (21st) and Alivia Richter (23rd).

The Gowanda boys competed as an incomplete team of only four runners, one short of the five needed to figure into the scoring. In a field of 67 runners in the boys race, Gowanda had one, Brendin Diebel, who made the Top 25 at 22nd Place. Gowanda’s Gabe Snyder finished in the top half in 31st Place.

Monday, September 1 - Labor day

Gowanda/Pine Valley Football 1-0

Friday, September 5
at Akron
Gowanda 33, Akron 20
Akron 14/ 0/ 0/ 6 | 20
Gowanda 6/ 8/ 6/13 | 33
Winter Mentley-Peters
19 carries for 142 yards / 2 TD
5 catches for 10 yards

Cayden Redford
5 carries for 23 yards

Zane Rogers
4 carries for 10 yards
1 catch for 6 yards

Kyan Austin
11 catches for 133 yards / 2 TD

Lukas Barrett
2 catches for 35 yards / 1 TD

Carter Capozzi
21/33 completions for 201 yards / 3 TD

Gowanda Volleyball 2-0

Wednesday, September 3
at West Valley/Franklinville
Gowanda 3, West Valley 0
25-18/25-12/25-7
Corrina John 10 kills, 1 block
Addison Kota 7 kills, 3 digs, 4 aces
Envy Cross 4 kills, 1 block, 1 ace
Maleina Moses 3 kills, 2 digs, 8 aces
Bella Maines 2 kills, 19 assists, 3 digs, 2 aces
Lilliana Pierce 2 kills, 1 assist, 2 blocks
Evalene John 1 kill, 1 ace
Molly Bettker 1 dig, 2 aces
Lily Bailey 2 assists
Ainsley Horth 2 digs
Aubrey Smuda 3 digs

Friday, September 5
vs. North Collins [non-league]
Gowanda 3, North Collins 0
25-6/25-12/25-22
Maleina Moses 7 kills, 2 aces
Corrina John 6 kills, 1block, 4 aces
Lilliana Pierce 6 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace
Envy Cross 4 kills, 1 block, 2 aces
Addison Kota 4 kills, 12 assists, 2 digs, 1 ace
Bella Maines 23 assists, 2 digs
Molly Bettker 4 aces
Ainsley Horth 2 digs
Evalene John 6 digs
Aubrey Smuda 3 digs

Pine Valley/Gowanda Boys Soccer 0-2

Wednesday, September 3
vs. Maple Grove [non-league]
Pine Valley 0, Maple Grove 8

Friday, September 5
vs. North Collins [non-league]
Pine Valley 0, North Collins 3

Pine Valley/Gowanda Girls Soccer 0-2

Tuesday, September 2
vs. Dunkirk
Pine Valley 0, Dunkirk 6

While we haven’t quite made it to Labor Day, the first preliminary contests for the high school Fall sports season are on the horizon. Leading the way will be the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team who will face Silver Creek at 10 am on Friday, August 29. This first action of the Fall season will take place on the team’s home field at Pine Valley.

The next day, Saturday, August 30, Gowanda’s Varsity volleyball and football teams will both see their first pre-season action. Volleyball will be at Falconer at 8 am and football will be at Springville for a 5:30 pm game.

None of the Gowanda Fall Varsity sports teams will see any home action in Gowanda until Friday, September 5, when the Gowanda Varsity volleyball team will host North Collins at 6:30 pm.

On Friday, June 13, the Gowanda Varsity baseball team was at Union-Endicott High School for a Class C Semi-Final game against Deposit-Hancock. D-H came into the game ranked 1st in the state and this always figured to be a very low scoring game. As it happened, the D-H pitcher tossed a 3-hit, 5-strikeout game that allowed just one Gowanda run. Gowanda would have needed a shutout to win. They came close to achieving that with just one 2 RBI single making the difference in the game. During the game D-H had 12 runners on base at one time or another and it took a lot of Gowanda heroics to keep the game close.

Gowanda initially got off to a fast start. Leadoff batter, Blake Herman pounded a shot that hit the pitcher’s leg and bounced all the way back across the 3rd base line into foul territory. Three straight outs followed stranding Herman on the basepath.

Defense prevailed on both sides through four quick innings. In the 3rd inning, D-H opened with a walk and a single. After one out, they had runners on 2nd and 3rd. The runner on 3rd base started for home as the pitch was delivered. The batter took a swing and missed trapping the runner between 3rd and home. That led to a second out. An intentional walk put runners on 1st and 2nd. That set up a third out as the runner on 2nd attempted, and failed, to steal 3rd.

The big inning of the game was the 5th. Jayden Fish opened the inning for Gowanda with a walk. After one out, Seth Geiger added a single to right field that got Fish to 3rd base. Madden Lay followed with an RBI while being thrown out at 1st. That put Gowanda up 1-0 going to the bottom of the inning. The Gowanda momentum was short lived.

Deposit-Hancock answered with a big inning of their own. With two runners on base by a single and a walk, and with one out, a hit to left center field got past two Gowanda players for a 2-RBI single. Gowanda finally closed out the inning with a fly out to center, two intentional walks and a final strikeout.

The one-run deficit would stick as Gowanda was unable to answer. They managed only a Carter Capozzi double in the 6th inning. While Drew Kota was walked in the 7th inning, that only set up a double play that ended the game.

While Gowanda made many impressive plays throughout the game, the fell just short of the flawless game they needed, 2-1

The Gowanda Varsity baseball team will be at Binghamton on Saturday, June 14 for a 7:00 pm semi-finals game. Digital tickets are available for in-person attendance and the game will be streamed on NFHS Network. The school has announced plans for related local pre-game celebration including the Send-Off parade as the team leaves Gowanda just after 4pm on Thursday.