KINGSFORD — As far as Kingsford wrestling coach Darren Groleau is concerned, his Flivvers need one thing more than anything else. That would be more matches.

Groleau’s 11-man wrestling squad got plenty of that on Dec. 22, when the Flivvers traveled to the Hodag Wrestling Scramble hosted by Rhinelander High School. Kingsford was the only Upper Peninsula team competing in the 17-team event. The others were from Wisconsin.

The Flivvers wound up in 13th place with 80 points, just 8.5 points out of the top 10. Crandon captured the team title with 246 points.

But the team ranking was not a priority for Groleau at this point in the season.

“The good thing is we got five (dual) matches,” the Kingsford coach said. “We got a lot of mat time. Overall, we did well, but we’re young and inexperienced and we need the mat time to figure out what we need to work on.”

Kingsford’s top individual finisher was junior Trent Maki, who won four of his five matches and finished runner-up at 145 pounds.

“I like that he got three pins,” Groleau said. “He really wrestled. We’ve been waiting for him to have that really good day and I think he had a break-through day.”

Fellow junior Josh Peterson finished fifth at 170 pounds, though he, like other teammates, was hampered by illness. Groleau said Peterson wrestled back from an early loss to win his next four.

“He actually pinned himself (in the loss),” Groleau said. “But he came back and wrestled really good.”

Peterson won his fifth-place match by decision, 8-4.

Alastar Johnson also finished fifth on the day, defeating teammate Elizin Rouse by pin in that fifth-place match. Rouse wound up 2-3 on the day.

Next up for the Flivvers were Aidan Smith (152) and Izayah Reed (160), who both took seventh. Wyatt Westman (106) and Mac Kalcec (126) both finished eighth, while heavyweight Matthew Wilson placed ninth with a 3-2 mark and a pin in the ninth-place match.

Reed Degroot (138) and Josh Early (220) each finished 10th on the day

“They’re all learning and that’s what we look for as coaches,” Groleau said.

Kingsford gets back in action Wednesday when the Flivvers, and the Iron Mountain Mountaineers, hit the road for a multi-team event in Munising.

“That’s a big meet for seeding at the U.P.s,” Groleau said. “We’ll get five matches and wrestle against a lot of eastern U.P. schools. We’ll see where we are.”