Todd Rose | Daily Press The Gladstone wrestling team poses with its district trophy after defeating Kingsford Wednesday in Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — By defeating the Kingsford Flivvers 57-24 Wednesday night in Gladstone, the Gladstone Braves became the 2022 MHSAA District 165 Team Champions.

The Braves earned wins in 10 of the 14 weight classes, starting with a 215 victory for Hunter Potier, on their way to the championship victory.

“It was a good win,” said Braves coach Jeff Brazeau. “The kids wrestled tough and we had some good matches with Kingsford. It was a lot closer than I thought it was going to be.”

Two of the most entertaining matches of the championship showdown came at the 225 (Brett Boudreau vs. Matthew Wilson) and 140 (Hunter Solis vs. Trent Maki) weight classes.

Both matches featured hard-fought battles with both competitors in each earning near falls and gaining control at different stages.

In both classes, though, it was Gladstone’s Boudreau and Hunter Solis earning the victory.

“Good matches and good wrestlers all around,” said Brazeau on the bouts. “It went back and forth for a while and Hunter ended up with the win and so did Brett but I was nervous for a second there.

“It wasn’t a good spot to be in for either of them but they fought off of it and ended up with the win so it was good.”

Kingsford coach Chris Wilcox also found both matches at 225 and 140 to be quite the show.

“Trent Maki against Hunter that was a fantastic match,” Wilcox said. “Like I told Trent, that’s the most I’ve seen him move in a match ever. He worked hard and unfortunately came out on the wrong end but he almost pulled out a pin on it.

“Then big Willy, Matt Wilson, in the heavyweight match he was really close to getting a pin there and unfortunately couldn’t hang on to it and it went the wrong way.”

Wilcox added Wilson’s performance was especially nice to watch as Wilson has been limited recently dealing with a leg injury.

Overall, Wilcox was happy with how the Flivvers — who earned wins at 152 with Izayah Reed, 160 with Toby Wilcox and 171 with Josh Peterson along with a forfeit at 102 — performed against the Braves.

“I think the team wrestled very well though we came out on the short end,” he said. “We had a few matches that could have went the other way and we were close to pinning a couple guys, but they didn’t get them. Aside from that, I’m proud of how our kids wrestled. They fought through it.”

The Braves will be hosting the MHSAA Team Regional 117 next Wednesday, Feb. 16, as Kingsley, Cheboygan and Ogemaw Heights make the journey to the Upper Peninsula.

“It’s going to be tough,” Brazeau said looking ahead. “We’ve seen Kingsley once already this year and we beat them by one point so it was a great duel with them. We expect the same thing so it’s going to be tough. We’ll work on getting ready for that this week.”

Before Gladstone hosts team regionals, the Braves and Flivvers will both head to Grayling for individual districts this weekend.

Gladstone 57 def. Kingsford 24

215 — H. Potier, G, def. Rouse

225 — Boudreau, G, def. Matthew Wilson

103 — Westman, K, via forfeit

112 — Terrien, G, via forfeit

119 — Britton, G, via forfeit

125 — Hansen, G, def. Degroot

130 — Brazeau, G, via forfeit

135 — A. Solis, G, via forfeit

140 — H. Solis, G, def. Maki

145 — Carlson, G, via forfeit

152 — Reed, K, def. Max Wilson

160 — Wilcox, K, def. Mattonen

171 — Peterson, K, def. Seger

189 — C. Potier, G, via forfeit