Competing in Montana for their second and third rodeos of the fall the Northwest College rodeo teams failed to get on the leaderboard in both Glendive and Dillon on Sept. 12-13 and 26-27.

“One kid turned his horse to face, and the horse reared up, and the kid fell off. Took place in the team roping short round, then the same kid missed. It was kind of going to be right there,” coach Del Nose said. “Then our goat tyers were just a little too long and so was barrel racing … It’s just stuff like that. A lot of freshman mistakes.”

Following the fall season, the Trapper men sit in sixth in the Big Sky standings with 138 points, 260 behind the next closest team. The women are outside the top six.

Nose said that he has some additional competitors who will be eligible once the spring season rolls around, and he’s hopeful they will help the team when they start back up.

“I’ve just got my fingers crossed so we can get out of the bottom of the list,” Nose said. “These kids have got the ability, and trying to get them to concentrate on what’s in the moment is a little hard for some of them to grasp. So we’ll just keep working on that and practicing as much as we can, up to the weather, and then we’ll start back over in March.”

He said the team is focusing on grades right now and will practice once everybody’s grades are up to standard, as he is hopeful the team can score points early once the spring season rolls around in April.

“It’s very important (to score points early). The kids have got to get to the gym too,” Nose said. “We’ll trample on and see if we can’t right the ship.”