Gowanda Small Town Times

On Friday, October 6, the Gowanda Varsity football team lost a golden opportunity to showoff in front of the home crowd. A scheduled game with St. Mary’s was cancelled. St. Mary’s had only played twice this season giving up 115 points without scoring a single point themselves. While the fans missed seeing quite a show by the Gowanda team they also avoided the rain that would have been a part of the second half.

Shortly before the original start time for the football game, the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team was starting play at Lake Shore in a non-league match-up. One thing that has been a strong point for the Gowanda team is their ability to outlast the competition in matches that are extended past the minimum three games. Gowanda had previously been involved in three 5-game matches, winning two of those with the one loss coming on the first game of the season. The ability to stay strong while the competition wears out served Gowanda well again at Lake Shore.

In Game 1, Lake Shore started fast grabbing an early 5-1 lead. That continued to grow through a 20-10 advantage to a 25-13 Lake Shore win. Gowanda rebounded in Game 2 taking four of the first five points. Lake Shore came back to tie the game at 5 and move into a brief 7-5 lead. Gowanda moved back into a tie at 7-7 with an Elizabeth Green ace on the way to a small lead of their own. The game was again tied at 17, 20 and 22 through 24 with Lake Shore holding the 1 point edge before slipping back. The battle continued with Gowanda up 25-24 followed by Lake Shore up 26-25 and 27-26. From a 27-all tie, Gowanda finally closed out the game with Jillian Gernatt collecting back-to-back service points for a 29-27 win.

Moving to Game 3, it was Lake Shore starting strong 5-1. That gap eventually grew to 17-8. The game was more competitive from there, but Gowanda was not able to avoid a 25-15 loss. In Game 4, an early 3-1 Gowanda start slipped back into a 5-5 tie. Fierce competition and long volleys saw a series of tie scores up to 13-13. from there Gowanda began to pull away. A 4-point run with Ella Luther serving brought the score to 21-14. The score was 22-15 as Elizabeth Green was up to serve. Starting with an ace, the Gowanda advantage went to 24-15. After a minor delay on a errant serve, Gowanda locked down the next point for a 25-16 win in the game.

With the match now tied 2-2, Gowanda went to work in Game 5. For the 4th time this season Gowanda came up strong while the opposition faded in the extended play. A 15-10 Gowanda win in the game gave them a 3-2 match win. As a measure of the intense competition in this match, Gowanda as a team recorded a total 162 digs in the game. Full stats are listed below.

Elizabeth Green 12 kills, 1 assist, 4 aces, 5 digs, 1 block
Aubrie Heron 10 kills, 1 dig, 7 blocks
Holland Browning 8 kills, 2 aces, 29 digs
Addison Kota 5 kills, 2 assists, 43 digs, 2 blocks
Lauren Kelly 5 kills, 2 digs, 4 blocks
Jillian Gernatt 1 kill, 39 assists, 1 ace, 10 digs
Corrina John 1 kill, 2 digs
Ella Luther 2 aces, 61 digs
Tessa Kohn 9 digs

Meanwhile, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team was playing a rare night game at Salamanca. In a game that feature more back and forth defense than offense, Pine Valley came up short 1-0. The winning Salamanca goal came with 29:51 left in the first half. With possession of the ball in the corner and two girls positioned in front of the goal, Salamanca made a pass past the near-side girl to the second one. The Pine Valley goaltender, Destiny Lindquist, guarding against a shot from the first girl was unable to get to the other side of the net in time to keep the second girl from scoring. Lindquist did make saves on 13 other Salamanca shots. Pine Valley only managed 6 shots on goal in the game.

Football 3-2, 1-2

Friday, October 6

Saint Mary’s at Gowanda
- cancelled -

Girls Volleyball 11-2, 9-1

Tuesday, October 3

Gowanda at Pine Valley
Gowanda 3, Pine Valley 0
25-18/25-6/25-19

Thursday, October 5

Gowanda at Ellicottville
Gowanda 3, Ellicottbille 1
25-23/26-24/18-25/25-22

Friday, October 6

Gowanda at Lake Shore
Gowanda 3, Lake Shore 2
13-25/28-26/15-25/25-16/15-10

Cross Country

- no meets -

Boys Soccer 0-13, 0-7

Tuesday, October 3

Salamanca/Cattaraugus-L.V. at Pine Valley/Gowanda
Pine Valley 4, Salamanca 1

Thursday, October 5

Pine Valley/Gowanda at Portville
Pine Valley 0, Portville 9

Girls Soccer 2-9-2, 2-6-2

Wednesday, October 4

Franklinville at Pine Valley/Gowanda
- Senior Day -
Pine Valley 1, Franklinville 0

Friday, October 6

Pine Valley/Gowanda at Salamanca
Pine Valley 0, Salamanca 1

On October 5, the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team was at Ellicottville. From the earlier meeting in Gowanda it was expected to be a challenge where both teams would have to earn every point they got.

Ellicottville jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in Game 1 before things tightened up. Gowanda did managed to tie things at 4. It was another one of those games where both teams traded slight leads and tie scores were frequent. From a 20-20 score, Gowanda finally grabbed the final lead in the game. That lead never exceeded two points and was as narrow as 24-23 before the eventual 25-23 Gowanda win.

In Game 2 it was Gowanda taking the early lead 5-2. Ellicottville worked back into a tie at 7 on the way to their own 10-7 lead. Although Gowanda managed to get back into a tie at 13, they slipped back again. Gowanda was in a 20-14 hole before they pulled out of the skid. With Elizabeth Green serving, Gowanda pulled to within 1 at 20-19. They eventually tied the game at 22. Gowanda had 1-point leads back into ties at 23 and 24 when Addison Kota came up to serve. Back-to-back aces gave Gowanda the 26-24 win.

Down 2-0 going into Game 3, Ellicottville rose to the do or die challenge. They quickly moved into a 4-1 advantage and increased that lead to 17-10. From 22-14 down, Gowanda make a minor comeback, but was not able to prevent a 25-18 loss.

On to Game 4. It was back to both teams holding small leads with several tie scores for the first half of the game. From a 12-11 advantage, Gowanda finally made a move. Again with Kota serving, their lead grew to 16-11. Unable to take back the lead, Ellicottville did manage to pull into a tie at 18, 21 and 22 before a pair of Holland Browning kills set Gowanda up with a 24-22 advantage. One point later, Gowanda had a 3-1 match win with a game score of 25-22.

Gowanda stats are as follows:
Holland Browning 13 kills, 3 aces, 17 digs
Corrina John 6 kills, 1 dig, 9 blocks
Aubrie Heron 5 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs, 7 blocks
Addison Kota 2 kills, 3 aces, 13 digs, 2 blocks
Elizabeth Green 2 kills, 1 ace, 2digs
Lauren Kelly 2 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks
Jillian Gernatt 24 assists, 1 ace, 11 digs
Ella Luther 1 ace, 43 digs
Tessa Kohn 5 digs

Over in Pine Valley, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team was hosting Portville. It was another long day for the boys. In a 4-0 hole after one quarter, Pine Valley/Gowanda was down 6-0 at halftime. Portville added two goals in the 3rd plus one in the 4th quarter for a final 9-0 win.

On Wednesday, October 4, there was just one Gowanda-connected Varsity team with a game. The Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team hosted Franklinville. As it was the last regular season home game for Pine Valley/Gowanda it was also Senior Night.

It was game that ended in a 0-0 tie at the end of regular play. In overtime, Lauren Hostetter scored for Pine Valley/Gowanda with an assist by Samantha Collins. That gave Pine Valley/Gowanda a 1-0 win. It was the team’s 3rd win and their 2nd in a row going back to the previous week. In an unusual occurrence, Pine Valley/Gowanda outshot their opponent 13-10 with goaltender, Destiny Lindquist, getting the shutout.

Pine Valley/Gowanda still has three travel games left in the regular season.

The first Varsity sports action in October came on Tuesday the 3rd. Two games were on the schedule, both taking place at Pine Valley. In both cases, Gowanda-connected teams came out on top.

The Pine Valley Varsity girls volleyball team hosted Gowanda. Gowanda got off to a slow start in Game 1. Frequently tied, the game was very close in the early going with neither team holding an advantage of more than two points. From a 9-all tie, Gowanda went on a 4-point spurt that put them ahead 13-9. Eventually, Pine Valley worked their way back into a tie at 18. That prompted a pivotal timeout. Gowanda took the next point bringing Ella Luther up to serve. Starting with an ace, Gowanda ran up six straight points to win the game 25-18.

In Game 2, the teams split the first four points evenly. Then, Addison Kota had her own run of six service points and Gowanda was up 8-2. With the score at 9-3 it was Aubrie Heron up to serve. With Heron serving, Gowanda went on an 11-point streak that included 3 aces. The score was 20-4 and Gowanda coasted to a Game 2 win. The final two points came with Jillian Gernatt serving with that last point being an ace that hit the top of the net before dropping down on the Pine Valley side. That 25-6 win put Gowanda up in the match 2-0.

Game 3 was hard fought with Pine Valley battling their way into an early 9-3 lead. Gowanda clawed their way back. Down 11-7, Holland Browning racked up nine straight service points beginning and ending with an ace giving Gowanda a 16-11 lead. Pine Valley was unable to close that gap as the game progressed to an eventual 25-19 Gowanda win to take the match 3-0.

Once again, numerous Gowanda players figured into the game statistic. They are listed below:
Aubrie Heron 7 kills, 6 aces, 4 digs
Elizabeth Green 6 kills, 3 aces
Corrina John 4 kills
Addison Kota 4 kills, 3 aces, 13 digs
Holland Browning 3 kills, 5 aces, 6 digs
Lauren Kelly 2 kills
Jillian Gernatt 21 assists, 2 aces, 5 digs
Ella Luther 3 aces, 9 digs
Sydney Smith 2 digs
Tessa Kohn 2 digs
Madilyn Pawlak 1 dig

Shortly before the girls were busy playing volleyball, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team was hosting Salamanca/Cattaraugus-Little Valley for what would be a highlight game for the team. After a scoreless 1st Quarter, Salamanca got the first point in the game mid-way through the 2nd Quarter. Pine Valley reached halftime down 1-0. A huge 3rd Quarter followed for Pine Valley/Gowanda. Nine minutes into the period, Rafael Meurant scored tying the game at 1-1. Sawyer Bradigan was credited with an assist on the goal. Three minutes later, Pine Valley had the lead as Bradigan scored at 52:00 with assist by Jack Sheldon. Sheldon followed with a pair of goals at 54:00 and 57:00 with assists from Bradigan and Warren Butcher. The remaining 3 minutes of that quarter and the whole 4th Quarter passed without any further scoring. With only a few games left in the regular season, the Pine Valley/Gowanda boys got their first win by a 4-1 score.