Head coach Chad Hisler finds himself in the same boat.

Of the 14 individuals scheduled to take the mat for the Lynx in their season opener Thursday evening — a North Central Conference triangular against Iowa Falls-Alden and Clarion-Goldfield-Dows in Iowa Falls at 6 p.m. — six had zero varsity matches a season ago. A total of nine had fewer than 10 varsity bouts last winter.

“Thanks for reminding me,” Hisler said with a chuckle when he was reminded of those numbers. “But even though we’re inexperienced, I’ve been really happy with the effort in practice. They’ve worked hard. That being said, we’re still pretty green and we’ll have to take it a step at a time.”

Being thrown into the deep end of the pool against two teams that are expected to be conference title contenders might not be the perfect way to kick off the campaign, but Hisler is excited to see what his team can produce when the spotlight is on the center of the mat.

Webster City’s Chase Rattenborg (right) looks to maintain control during a match last season. With more than 60 career victories, he’s one of the few experienced Lynx wrestlers entering Thursday’s season opener at Iowa Falls. DFJ file photo/Troy Banning

“We’re definitely ready to wrestle somebody else,” he said. “I just want to go out and see everybody compete and after that we’ll assess and keep trying to get better. I hope that when we get to the conference tournament (in January) we’re a lot better than we are this Thursday.”

Don’t misconstrue what Hisler is saying though. Even though IF-A and CGD both return more proven commodities, he’s not conceding anything. A lot can happen in six minutes on the mat.

“We focus on wanting to win the conference title every year,” Hisler said. “That’s still the goal.”

WCHS is anchored by two hammers, one of which is a favorite to win a state title in 21⁄2 months. Sophomore 106-pounder Cam Phetxoumphone (pronounced pet-sum-pawn) is ranked No. 1 (Class 2A) by both iawrestle.com and The Predicament. As a freshman, he went 40-6, won a league title in dominant fashion and placed fifth at the state tournament.

Hisler expects his smallest grappler to be even better this winter.

“He’s just a very talented wrestler and he’s ready to go,” Hisler said of Phetxoumphone. “He’s fun to watch and he just keeps getting better.”

Chase Rattenborg (132), a junior, went 31-18 a season ago and has a chance to reach 100 wins this winter. Reece Sadler (120), Evan Estlund (145) and Cole Bingham (170) all wrestled between 13 and 39 varsity matches a season ago.

WCHS will throw four freshmen — Brayden Henely (113), Austin Mason (138), CJ Hisler (160) and Dylan Burnette (195) — into the circle.

“I think they’ll be fine,” Chad Hisler said of his rookies. “CJ, Brayden and Austin have all wrestled a lot. Dylan doesn’t have their experience, but he’s a really good athlete.”

Parker Rossing (152) is the lone senior in the Lynx lineup. Also getting the nods will be Ryan Zuetlau (126), Truman Klein (182), Broden Miller (220) and Trey Shannon (285).

IF-A and CGD have a combined seven ranked wrestlers. The Cadets are anchored by 2019 NCC champion and fourth-ranked (2A) Riley Burke (152), as well as No. 5 McKade Eisentrager (220) and No. 8 Brody Hoversten (120). The Cowboys have No. 5 (1A) Remington Hansen (138), No. 7 Tyler Stein (113), No. 8 Reed Abbas (145) and No. 8 Garett Seaba (152).

Hansen and Abbas were both 2018 conference champions. Stein is a two-time NCC runner-up, while Seaba was second to Drake Doolittle a season ago when Doolittle became the first WCHS wrestler to win four league crowns.

WCHS will see its first tournament action on Saturday when it travels to Grimes for the DC-G Mustang Invite at 10 a.m.

Webster City Lynx Lineup

(Weight, Name, Grade, 2018-19 Record)

106 — Cam Phetxoumphone, soph, 40-6.

113 — Brayden Henely, fr, 0-0.

120 — Reece Sadler, jr, 12-27.

126 — Ryan Zuetlau, jr, 1-0.

132 — Chase Rattenborg, jr, 31-18.

138 — Austin Mason, fr, 0-0.

145 — Evan Estlund, soph, 6-15.

152 — Parker Rossing, sr, 1-4.

160 — CJ Hisler, fr, 0-0.

170 — Cole Bingham, soph, 5-8.

182 — Truman Klein, soph, 0-0.

195 — Dylan Burnette, fr, 0-0.

220 — Broden Miller, soph, 0-0.

285 — Trey Shannon, jr, 1-8.