PUEBLO, Colo. – Marcus Mast is not going to lie and act like seeing Dalton Kasel wearing a lime green and black Austin Gamblers jersey is no big deal this weekend at Rattler Days. Yes, Mast and his teammates were shocked and disappointed to see Kasel get traded, but Mast also knows there is no point in staring in the rearview mirror and that sometimes business is business.  

Mast knew the men still riding for the Outlaws would be ready on Friday night after he and coach J.W. Hart chatted on Thursday night once the trade between Kansas City and Austin was approved by the PBR.

The message was simple.

“We talked for a while, and I said, ‘Yeah, it does suck to see him go, but we have to have the mentality of not turning around,” Mast said. “We need to look ahead of us and not behind. There is a reason the rearview mirror is as small as it is, and the windshield is as big as it is. We are looking at the future. Not the past. I like to look forward and not backward.”

And if anyone thought the Outlaws’ future was in 2024 or 2025 because they acquired future first and second-round draft picks … Well, try again.  

The future is the next bull and the next game, and the Outlaws (10-13) hit the highway like a bat out of hell on Friday night by smacking around the league-leading Carolina Cowboys (14-10) 253-175.25.

“This win is huge,” Mast told PBR.com. “Our locker room had a little bit of a different vibe today. We were all bummed to see Dalton go, but we know the job remains the same and we have to give it everything we got and try to win every game. To get a win against the No. 1 team is huge. Everybody was whooping and hollering when we got back in the locker room.”

Mast got the Outlaws on the board immediately with an 87.75-point ride on Smooth Over It after new Outlaw Leonardo Lima bucked off El Vid in 4.94 seconds and Sandro Batista was no match for Drago (7.25 seconds) in his Carolina debut.

The Kansas City side of the bucking chutes needed that ride from Mast as a reminder that their unexpected leader this season is still actually with them.

Mast has had a career resurgence as a member of the Outlaws, and he ranks fifth in the league with 12 qualified rides.

He has been the one constant, as injuries to Kasel, second-round pick Kyler Oliver and veteran Cole Melancon changed the complexion of the team Hart envisioned in many ways.

“Every time we get that first one or two rode, everybody gets into it a lot more,” Mast said. It is always huge if I can get that first one rode for the team.”

Kansas City then started to roll inside Dickies Arena.

Koltin Hevalow hung off the side of Whiplash for 78.75 points and the team then remained unfazed when 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis cut the Kansas City lead to 166.5-85.5 with his ride on Schott in the Dark and Rafael Henrique dos Santos was disqualified in the bucking chutes as the clock expired to zero.

2022 Rookie of the Year Bob Mitchell responded to all the adversity by simply clinching the victory for the Outlaws with 86.5 points on War Dress.

The win was impressive.

Instead of rolling over, the Outlaws rolled forward, and it is no surprise that the man who got them going was the same rider who had to lose over 20 pounds to even earn a spot on the team this summer.

“There has been a chip on our shoulder since we won the first preseason event in Bismarck,” Mast said. “We haven’t done much good since. We have been the underdog team as far as all of our guys. We had a couple guys who were regulars on the UTB level, and we got a bunch of new young guys. We have always carried a chip on our shoulder.”

Kansas City next takes on Nashville (5-17-1) at Rattler Days on Saturday night (7:45 p.m. ET RidePass on Pluto TV).

“I am trying to not look at anything that we lost. I like to look at it as what we gained. Not necessarily that we got a better rider, but we switched up our team. Everything happens for a reason, and we are only going to get stronger if we keep looking ahead. If we look behind, we are just weakening ourselves.”

SATURDAY GAME SCHEDULE

Missouri Thunder (12-11, 1-0 Rattler Days) @ Austin Gamblers (12-11, 1-0 Rattler Days) Nashville Stampede (5-17-1, 0-1 Rattler Days) @ Kansas City Outlaws (10-13, 1-0 Rattler Days) Arizona Ridge Riders (12-10-1, 0-1 Rattler Days) @ Oklahoma Freedom (13-10, 0-1 Rattler Days) Carolina Cowboys (14-9, 0-1 Rattler Days) @ Texas Rattlers (11-12, 1-0 Rattler Days)

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson