KINGSFORD — The Iron Mountain wrestling team began its season in style with a pair of wins at the Kingsford Quadrangular on Tuesday night.

The Mountaineers upended Escanaba 45-34 and Marquette 60-24 for their wins. On the other hand, the Flivvers suffered two close defeats – a 39-36 setback to Escanaba and a 36-30 loss to Marquette.

The Mountaineers’ victory over the Eskymos was memorable for the Iron Mountain program.

“That is probably the first time we have beaten Escanaba in over 10 years,” Iron Mountain coach Cory McLaren said. “Escanaba always has a strong program and (is) well coached.”

In a highlight match, Iron Mountain junior Shawn McGuire battled to a 3-0 win over Eli Gardner at 119 pounds.

“Great match between two state placers ….” McLaren said. “Two near falls by Shawn in the second period and an escape in the third were the only scoring in match.”

McLaren also pointed to the victories by freshmen Daniel Manier at 130 pounds and Giovanni Saldana at 189. Both wrestlers recorded pins in the first round of their initial prep matches.

“Overall, we looked good, but we definitely have stuff to work on and correct,” McLaren added.

Meanwhile, Kingsford got two wins each from Wyatt Westman (103), Toby Wilcox (152) and Mathew Wilson (285). Wilcox and Wilson both recorded two pins in their matches. Josh Peterson also picked up a first-period pin in his match against Escanaba at 171.

Additionally, Kingsford freshman Izayah Reed scored a wild win by pin against Escanaba at 160. Reed fell behind Escanaba’s Eloi Sellers 10-4 after the first period, which included two near falls by Sellers.

However, Reed bounced back to score a pin at 3:47 of the second round.

“That was a very exciting match and it was a absolutely a huge win for us,” Flivvers coach Darren Groleau said.

The Flivvers were hampered in their matches by four empty weight classes which caused eight forfeits in the two duals.

“Overall, I’m happy with everybody who wrestled,” Groleau added. “The kids wrestled very, very hard. (The losses) were not from a lack of effort. You get those swing matches which can go either way and we didn’t get some to go our way tonight.”