The Gowanda/Pine Valley football team saw its best passing effort of the season Saturday, but could not keep up with John F. Kennedy High School.
JFK defeated the Panthers, 43-20, despite an efficient day for Gowanda/PV junior quarterback Justin Kohn, who completed 14-of-22 passes for 204 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Senior Nate Brawdy was his main target, catching seven balls for 120 yards and a score.
But the breakout passing game happened after the JFK Bears (3-1, 2-0 Class C North) broke the game open with 22 first-quarter points and 14 more in the second to take a 36-6 lead and 36-13 into halftime.
“Coming out, giving up 22 points in the first quarter, that’s tough to do,” coach Sean Gabel said. “But as a positive point, we did fight back part of of the second quarter and we came out at halftime and could have easily — with the heat as it was — just went through the motions but we started playing some football with a couple starters with problems with the weather and injuries on the bench. Backups came up and they played and they rallied together.
“We made that second half a football game and in that aspect I can’t say enough about our kids because it could have easily went the other direction pretty quickly. They played tough the second half of the game, they left everything out there. Unfortunately we’ve got to play four quarters, we can’t start slow but I’ve got to say how proud I was of those kids, (including) a couple backups who never saw the field, not much game experience and we had to put them on the field.”
JFK quarterback James Bailey threw for a school-record four touchdown passes, including two to Jordan Snyder.
Zack Smith’s fourth-quarter touchdown reception from Kohn and a Mattias Rikka extra point (his second of the day) cut the lead to 36-20 before Bailey’s last touchdown pass marked the game’s final score.
Gabel said his team’s breakthrough in the passing game stemmed from confidence.
“These are kids we’re dealing with,” he said, “and once they get some confidence under their belt and they can start believing in themselves a bit more, and in their teammates, all the kids rally behind that. It’s momentum: a couple kids get there, a couple other kids get on board and that’s what a team does.
“I’m just hoping to carry that intensity, that enjoyment, that fun and carry it on Friday night and watch it some more.”
Junior Caleb Maloney again led Panthers runners with 75 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries and added three catches for 35 yards.
Brawdy, Maloney and junior Ryan Gernatt tied for a team-high with seven tackles each.
At 0-4, Gowanda/Pine Valley returns to Hillis Field for just its second home game of the season Friday, hosting Allegany-Limestone in Class C South play. The Gators (1-3) have lost two in a row and are also seeking their first league win.
“Both teams are struggling but that’s a good program out there,” Gabel said. “I know coach (Paul) Furlong does a great job out there. They’re hungry also, so we are by no means in any position to take any team lightly. We’re in a hole we’ve dug ourselves in and now it’s only up to us to get ourselves out of this.”
