WEBSTER CITY – Winning wrestling matches was a 50/50 proposition for Cole Nokes during his first three years in the Webster City lineup.

He won some, he lost some. At times he looked like he was ready to take that next step forward, but consistency took a while to find its way into his arsenal.

But that’s all changed this winter, and for the better.

What’s the reason? Perspective.

“I think he realized this is his last go-round and he put in a lot of time during the offseason,” Webster City coach Chad Hisler said of Nokes. “I don’t know if I’d say he’s taking it more seriously, but he’s working harder in practice and you’re seeing that switch over into matches.”

Nokes, the Lynx senior 126-pounder, brings a 13-2 record into tonight’s North Central Conference triangular against Clear Lake and Fort Dodge St. Edmond inside the WCHS gymnasium, and the dynamic performance to this point has enabled him to even his career mark at 64-64.

Nokes’ lone losses came against Interstate-35’s Zac Willey in the semifinals of the Dallas Center-Grimes Invitational and against fourth-ranked (Class 3A) Tyler Menegay at the Dick Kennedy Duals, both occurring last month. He’s currently riding a seven-match win streak and six of his 13 victories have come by fall or tech fall.

Perhaps the biggest boost of confidence in Nokes’ career came last month when he knocked off then-ranked Tate Battani of Ballard, 12-10, in sudden victory. Nokes piled up six takedowns and that sense of aggression has been evident throughout the season.

“He’s really worked on his shots and takedowns,” Hisler said. “It seemed like he could always get in on shots, but he couldn’t finish them.”

No. 15-ranked (Class 2A) WCHS (10-2, 4-1 NCC) will need Nokes and the 13 other grapplers in the lineup to be ready for battle when it clashes with Clear Lake (15-13, 3-2 NCC) at 6 p.m. The Lynx knocked off the Lions, 38-31, at the Dick Kennedy Duals, but both teams have several new faces in the lineup and it once again will come down to a few swing matches.

“We always want to beat them and they always want to beat us,” Hisler said of the showdown with Clear Lake. “This will be the last time that (Lions’ head coach Gary) Weber is coming to Webster City, so we’re going to prepare to go to battle.”

Clear Lake leans on 2015 state champion and top-ranked Ryan Leisure (138), as well as the Faught brothers – freshman Eric, who is ranked No. 2 (106), and senior Ryan, who is No. 7 (145). Ryan Faught has spent the majority of the season at 152.

WCHS will look to its trio of top-ranked Gavin Dinsdale (220), third-ranked Cooper Lawson (285) and fourth-ranked Drake Doolittle (113) to score bonus points.

“It’s going to come down to bonus points and swing matches,” Hisler said. “We’ve got to turn a couple of matches around.”

St. Edmond (1-11, 0-5 NCC) likely can’t contend for dual wins due to five open weights, but the Gaels do have talent. Payton Sitzmann is ranked sixth at 138 (1A) and Cole Allison is ranked seventh at 120. Four of the Gaels’ nine wrestlers have at least 16 victories.

“The kids they do have are good,” Hisler said. “We don’t want to beat them on forfeits, we want to win matches and we’ll stress that to the kids.”