KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Maybe, every now and then, a piece of humble pie can be a good thing.
Carolina Cowboys coach Jerome Davis and bull rider Mason Taylor agreed that the Cowboys (3-2) may have learned a good lesson this past weekend at Outlaw Days: Winning a PBR Team Series Championship will be no cakewalk.
The Cowboys may have gotten shutout Saturday night and sustained an ugly 257.25-0 loss to the Ariat Texas Rattlers (1-4), but the group made sure to wash that nasty taste out of its mouth Sunday with a 255-171.75 victory over the Oklahoma Freedom (1-4).
“Yesterday, it knocked us back a little bit, but I think that the teams that can come back from a loss are going to be the ones at the end that really shine,” Davis said. “We shined today. We bounced back good. I was proud of my guys. That was the deal. I was just hoping we were going to bounce back from yesterday, and we bounced back three out of the five. Not a bad night.”
Taylor was the leader for the Cowboys on Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Center.
Taylor first tied the game up at 171.75 with an 86-point ride on Surprise Package before Ramon de Lima put the Cowboys in the lead with an 83.25-point effort on Lil Hott. Daylon Swearingen once again began things strongly for Carolina with an 85.75-point ride on Apper’s Mind Freak.
The Freedom received rides from Derek Kolbaba (87.75 points on American Gangster) and Deklan Garland (84 points on WSM’s Scary Larry).
Taylor then cemented the Cowboys a second-place finish at Outlaw Days by breaking the tie between Carolina (3-2, Outlaw Days 2-1) and Missouri (4-1, Outlaw Days 2-1) in the event standings with his 88.5 points on Hawkeye in the Bonus Round. Colten Fritzlan bucked off Pookie Holler (6.86 seconds) for the Thunder.
“We were a little overconfident yesterday, and it just goes to show you nothing is for sure, so we came back today with a vengeance,” Taylor said. “It was good for us. It reality-checked us. That’s what being a team is all about – facing adversity and coming back the second day stronger than you left the first.”
Davis did not feel the need to be hard on his team following Saturday’s loss to Texas, but he did challenge them to show the league what kind of character they are made of.
It is never fun being punched in the face; Texas had done that.
“When you get to this level and this caliber, these guys know how to bounce back, but we (as coaches) want to remind them of it,” Davis said. “Make them step up to the plate and put a fire behind them guys, and maybe they’ll get pretty excited about our team. Yesterday was the first time we got our butt kicked like we did. We did not get a bull rode, and the way they bounced back, that’s what pays dividends at the end.”
The Cowboys are sitting third in the PBR Team Series standings with a 3-2 record heading into next weekend’s neutral-site event in Anaheim, California.
However, despite their zero on Saturday night, the team still has the second-most qualified rides in the league (11) behind PBR Team Series leader Arizona Ridge Riders (4-1). Arizona leads the league with 12 rides through two weeks of competition.
Carolina is one game behind Arizona and the Missouri Thunder (4-1) in the early-season standings. Carolina takes on the Kansas City Outlaws (1-4) on Friday (10:45 p.m. ET, RidePass on Pluto TV) and the Thunder on Saturday in Anaheim at the Honda Center.
The Cowboys vs. Thunder can be seen on CBS national television next Sunday (Aug. 14) as part of the PBR’s Game of the Week doubleheader. All the action begins at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Davis said that knowing his team is close to the top of the leaderboard for the overall season aggregate is a good sign that the wins will start coming consistently as long as Carolina doesn’t stub its toe again.
“At the end of the day, we’re just trying to ride our bulls,” Davis concluded. “If we can keep doing that, I think it’s going to pay off in the end.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
