First time replacing heads and weird gasket issue.

Mmmmm....as said, if the small solid dowels are in place, then if you pull them then you're wasting your time. The hole under the head at the front of the block SHOULD be blocked. The flow is into the block from front to back, then up through the big holes in the back, then back to front in the heads to the passages to the front of the intake and then the t'stat. There are a few smaller holes to allow flow up between the chambers in-between, but that big hole in the gasket should be in the back, over a matching hole in the block.

if you COULD put that big gasket hole in the front, then most of the coolant would bypass the rear areas of block and head.

You can see the standard Felpro head gasket orientation here, at around 1:55, and you can see how the dowels force the orientation. (The guy in the video is not a crazy as he looks LOL.)