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

Monday, September 8

Gowanda Free Library - 10:15 am to 3:30 pm
Weekly Crafts

Wednesday, September 10

Gowanda Central School - 6:30 pm
Regular School Board meeting in High School library

Saturday, September 13

Trinity United Church of Christ - 4 to 6 pm (or ’til gone)
Community Meal
Chicken Fritters w/country gravy over rice, veggie, applesauce & cookie

NY&LE Railroad - 5 pm
Wine Tasting Train

Gowanda Hollywood Theater - 6 to 10 pm
Maiden Voyage band [Classic Rock & Blues] Free concert/cash bar

Saturday/Sunday, September 13/14

Big Apple Cattle Co. - 8 am to 6 pm
2025 Fall Pasture Bid Board Sale
15133 S. Quaker Rd; Gowanda

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.

[photo] Members of local fire companies along the finish line await the arrival of the bulk of the derby ducks.

On Sunday, August 24, the annual Ducky Derby event was held in Gowanda. After using the new amphitheater at Gateway Park for spectator seating the past couple years, the race was relocated to Creekside Park for 2025. Gowanda’s Community Watch group added to the event by hosting a Community Picnic at the same location.

Community Watch volunteers gave out hot dogs and hamburgers to attendees while also accepting donations towards future activities. Several other local groups also set up booths during the event. Additionally, there was a duck mascot on hand plus horse rides in the park for the children. Despite some gloomy skies at noon, and a couple of rain drops, the skies cleared as predicted going into the afternoon.

[photo] A raft, with the duck mascot onboard, prepares to head upstream with the ducks prior to the start of the race.

The picnic began at noon while race goers were arriving for the 2 pm main event. Members of local fire companies were on hand to manage the derby. At race time, along with the duck mascot, two fire department members took two bins of derby ducks upstream to the starting point for the race. After releasing the ducks, the raft cruised back to the finish line to prepare for the arrival of the ducks there. Fortunately for race officials, the first five ducks managed to separate themselves from the pack (and each other) quite well making it very easy to determine the first five finishers. The finish line crew had to work a bit faster collecting and calling out the next few arrivals which came in with less space between them. After ten places had been called out, the finish line crew reverted to collection duties picking up the remaining duck to race another day.

Winning ducks were:

1st Place [$200] #380 “Tommy” owned by Thomas Bartlett II

2nd Place [$150] #410 “Duke 2” owned by Jim Galati

3rd Place [$50] #389 “Peanut” owned by Ason Offhaus

4th Place [$50] #204 “Joey” owned by Mark C. Burr

5th Place [$50] #395 “Dustin” owned by Elliott Bernard

6th Place [$50] #432 “Jackson” owned by Donna Byroads

7th Place [$25] #115 “Chucky 9” owned by Charlie Smith

8th Place [$25] #212 - unnamed - owned by Darlene Stark

9th Place [$25] #398 “Hillbilly” owned by James Kittle

10th Place [#25] #15 “frodo” owned by Fred Davis