DES MOINES — True to form, Nick Wise stuck his tongue out and wagged it.

If he’s going to be the best, he’s got to be himself.

The Marshalltown senior secured his spot in Saturday night’s 144-pound finals at the IHSAA State Wrestling Championships at the Casey’s Center, scoring a 7-5 decision over Hayden Hutt of Waukee Northwest to give the Bobcats finalists in back-to-back seasons.

Wise was the seventh-place finisher at 138 last winter, when then-senior Xayvion Anderson settled for second place at 165, and the lessons he took from that journey are evident everytime Wise takes to the mat.

“I learned confidence,” he said. “Last year there were a couple of matches where I just, I wasn’t confident that I was going to win, and this year I’ve been confident that I was gonna make it to the finals. I was confident that I was going to win every single match. I was confident I was gonna win every single position and show that I was better.”

So far, so good.

Wise and fellow senior Dalton Zednichek will make up the second set of Marshalltown’s back-to-back years of having two medalists for the first time since 2004 and 2005. Zednichek kicked off Friday night’s festivities for the Bobcats with a first-period pin in his fifth-round consolation match, and Wise followed it up with a hard-earned win in the semifinals in front of a raucous Marshalltown fan following.

“It was pretty wild,” Wise said of the crowd. “I was able to give them high-fives from the arena floor and they were louder than the coaches. If it wasn’t for the head gear, I probably wouldn’t have been able to hear what my coaches were saying.”

According to head coach Luke Cross, there wasn’t much that needed to be said once the match started. A thorough scouting report put Wise in position to fend off Hutt’s best offense and he did it well enough to work in his own attack.

“Yeah, we certainly watched some film on him,” said Cross. “The kid was going for the same move over and over again and nearly got it, but NIck’s just so, so strong in his core from his legs up, he’s just a powerhouse, so he wasn’t gonna be denied.”

Wise (38-1), rated third by IAwrestle and seeded second, stormed through every step of the 144-pound bracket with a pair of second-period pins before Friday’s decision.

The last step is Southeast Polk senior Wil Oberbroeckling, who brings a 30-3 record into Saturday night’s finals. Oberbroeckling was second at 138 last winter and sixth two years ago.

“We wrestled him really close last year, lost a close decision at the Allie Morrison Duals,” said Cross.

That was last year. This is a new Nick Wise.

“I’ve skipped so many things, I put in so much work for wrestling, and to me, accomplishing one of my goals this season and doing what most people can’t do, it’s everything right now,” Wise said of advancing to the finals. “The next one is still tomorrow.”

Saturday’s state finals session starts at 5:30 p.m. for Wise and the Bobcats, who last crowned a champion in 2013 with current assistant coach Pedro Gomez’s heavyweight title.

Wise said there’s nothing he can’t accomplish with a crowd of Bobcat faithful like he wrestled in front of Friday night.

“It was super-important, having my family there to back me up, having my friends supporting me, texting me, saying ‘good job,’ saying they’re gonna come watch is amazing,” said Wise. “It boosts my confidence and it shows that people care and people believe in me. And it shows that it’s not just me wrestling out there — it’s the entire Marshalltown community wrestling out there.”

For Zednichek, his quest to reach the podium will be satisfied on Saturday morning when he goes for anywhere from third to sixth place. A first-period pin of Linn-Mar’s Philip Jacobs put him in that position — that and, of course, a vice-grip of a cradle.

Zednichek, ranked eighth, fought off a Jacobs takedown despite losing his air supply for a bit, pulled Jacobs’ head to his knee, and rocked him back for a pin in 1 minute, 3 seconds.

“He put me in a guillotine right away and I couldn’t breath for a solid 10 seconds, but I got him down and once I got that cradle, I knew it was over,” Zednichek said. “That’s just my favorite move in wrestling, and in my opinion, once I get it locked, give me enough time and I can get anyone pinned.”

Zednichek (17-2), now 3-1 in his state debut, will face Fort Dodge’s No. 7 Jesse Egli (28-9) in the consolation semifinals on Saturday morning to determine whether he battles for third or fifth to end the season.

“He was a little bit stressed in this tournament, and now he’s wrestling like the Dalton we know,” said Cross. “He’s on the podium. The stress is gone. So now we’re just gonna shoot for third place.”