And it isn’t over yet.

With a thrilling 7-1 win over conference rival Escanaba after downing Sault Ste. Marie 9-1 earlier in the day, the Flivvers captured the program’s first-ever district title Friday afternoon at Al Ness Field, advancing to a regional semifinal Wednesday against Petoskey at Cheboygan High School.

Locked in a scoreless pitcher’s duel through the first four innings against Esky in the final, Kingsford (18-8) finally broke through against one of the U.P.’s best pitchers in junior flamethrower Lennox Peacock. Backed by a gem of an effort from their own ace in senior Gavin Trevillian, the Flivvers cruised to the MHSAA Division 2 District 33 crown and punched their ticket to the regional semifinals.

Despite a shaky start that elevated his pitch count in the early innings, Trevillian settled in as the game went on, gained control and kept the Escanaba bats silent when it mattered most to help deliver the biggest triumph in program history.

Kingsford senior Nolan Hendrickson celebrates after scoring a run in the sixth inning against Escanaba. Hendrickson drove in four runs in the Flivvers’ 9-1 win over Sault Ste. Marie in the district semifinal Friday.

“Coming into it we knew we were going to get Peacock and that’s a pretty daunting task,” Trevillian said. “He’s the real deal, so I knew I had to bring it too, and we’ve had some duels in the past, but today we got the best of him and I’m glad. He’s good.”

Peacock is very good. But on this day, Trevillian was better — allowing only two hits and striking out 10 while giving up an unearned run and four walks before reaching his pitch limit with one out remaining in the game. Senior Gavin Grondin came on for the final out, and the trophy celebration was on.

“I don’t know what to say,” Flivver head coach Joe Kriegl said. “I am so proud of the effort. Lenny is the real deal. We had to get a run here or there and his pitch count got up and really the thing was, we did what we had to do.

“Trevillian scared me at the beginning. He was struggling, every batter was going to full count. But he battled through it and he’s a senior and he’s the guy I want in that situation. I’ve watched him in football and basketball. He’s been in the moment and he came through. So proud of him, so proud of all of them!”

Seniors Andres Finley and Joey Weber sparked the Flivvers’ offense with clutch run-scoring hits, the duo accounting for five of Kingsford’s seven hits. Finley put the Flivvers on the board first in the fifth with a RBI single off Peacock to drive in junior Jack Kriegl, who reached earlier in the inning by legging out an infield single.

Weber, on a 1-2 count in the sixth, dumped a run-scoring single to shallow center to make it 2-0 after Peacock uncharacteristically walked the first two batters of the inning as the Flivver hitters exercised patience at the plate in an attempt to drive up his pitch count toward the 105 limit. It was Weber’s second hit of the game after he poked a two-out double in the fourth but was left stranded.

Peacock exited after Weber’s knock, and a few batters later with the bases loaded and still nobody out, Finley opened the game up by drilling a two-RBI line-drive rocket into right field.

Escanaba’s lone run scored in the bottom of the sixth. An infield error allowed Peacock to reach, and with two away, junior Ashton Rymkos crushed a double to make it 4-1. But the damage was limited, as Trevillian got a groundball to second for the third out.

Kingsford then padded its advantage with three more in the seventh. Weber ripped his second double of the game to drive in junior Jacob Deuter who led off with a walk. Senior Nic Novara walked and later scored on a wild pitch, and Grondin brought home Weber by lifting a sacrifice fly to right.

Peacock, with his blistering fastball humming in the mid to upper 80s, finished with 12 strikeouts, allowing five hits and three earned runs with three walks.

“I feel bad for (Lennox),” Escanaba head coach Scott Hanson told the Escanaba Daily Press. “He pitched really well. Hopefully all you need (when he pitches) is (to score) one or two runs, and we couldn’t do that.”

For his part, Trevillian had to work out of some early innings jams, including the first inning when Escanaba loaded the bases with one away before he fanned the final two hitters. Trevillian got major help from his all-conference catcher in the second and third innings, as Kriegl not once but twice gunned down would be base stealers.

Unable to consistently locate his slider early, Trevillian relied on his fastball to turn the tide.

“I couldn’t find the zone early, but I got the hang of it eventually,” he said. “We gave up that one run but our team came through and we were able to slam the door. It was a great win.”

Senior Garrett Brown was the first Flivver to tag Peacock, leading off the third with a blast into the left field corner for a double, but he was left at second as Peacock recovered with three swinging strikeouts, mixing in a nasty breaking ball with his heaters.

Against Sault Ste. Marie, Finley proved masterful on the mound for the win, throwing 5 2/3 innings and scattering six hits with eight strikeouts and three walks.

He also smacked two of Kingsford’s nine hits, including a first-inning double off the fence in center and a RBI single in the Flivvers’ two-run fifth. Senior Nolan Hendrickson drove in four with a three-hit effort. He slid in head first for a two-run double in Kingsford’s three-run fourth and flared a two-run single over first and inside the line in right field in the seventh.

Trevillian (two hits, two runs) had a RBI double to center in the fourth to bring home Kriegl who had doubled to the corner in left. Brown added a RBI hit in the fifth. Deuter had a single to center in the fourth, scoring on Hendrickson’s two bagger.

Weber pitched relief to get the final out of the sixth and set the Blue Devils down in order in the last frame with strikeouts of the final two batters.

“We didn’t want the season to end and it didn’t,” Kriegl said. “We get another game, and we’ll see where it goes from there. This is pretty special. Our first district win ever, beating the Soo, and then to beat Escanaba which is just a phenomenal program, it’s just special.”

For Kingsford’s core, the district title was a long time coming, especially after an early district exit last season.

“Just the heart and the grit,” Trevillian said when asked what makes this team special. “We’ve been playing together since we were so young and I feel like we’ve got something special here, and we finally were able to win a district.”

Now it’s on to Cheboygan where the Flivvers will face a 29-5 Petoskey juggernaut that pounded out 21 total hits in defeating Gaylord 5-3 in a district semifinal before whopping Cheboygan 20-5 in a four-inning district championship, giving the Northmen their sixth straight district title. Petoskey is the defending regional champion as well and beat Escanaba 3-0 in a regional semifinal last season before advancing to the state quarterfinal.