Saddle bronc rider Zane Coates, a wiry young cowboy from Ozona with a flair for drama, made his ride pay big dividends in front of a near-capacity crowd at Bell County Expo Center.

Coates rode out a horse named Windsor to an impressive 77 score to handily take first place in the saddle bronc, outscoring the closest competitors by four points. Coates was the only cowboy or cowgirl who shot into first place in his respective event Friday.

A pair of saddle bronc riders from Friday - fellow Ozona cowboy Dean Wadsworth and Marty Eakin of Umbarger - shared second-place money with scores of 73. All three moved ahead of previous leader Justin Browning of Dublin, who scored a 72 on Thursday.

Although no other competitors jumped into first, several did score well enough to come away with place money.

In bareback riding, Zach Dishman of Beaumont rode Don’t Resist to a 74 to place second overall. J.D. Thompson of Weatherford turned in a 73 for third. The 75 hung up by Floridian Jared Smith on Wednesday held up for the win.

Kilgore’s Whitney Gibson narrowly missed capturing the barrel racing title on Friday with a time of 16.20 seconds - a whisker off the 16.17 of Grand Prairie’s Rivon Nilson from Thursday.

Elizabeth Sullivan of Valley View and Cassidy Ogden of Gail put pressure on the best times with times of 16.25 and 16.28, respectively. Salado’s Shelly Lilly-Owen finished in 17.34 seconds.

The team roping competition was riddled with penalties. Only J.D. Denham of Howe and Clay Whisenhunt of Royse City clocked in a time good for fourth-place money at 7.6 seconds. Matt Petrus of Skidmore and Dee Rampy of Bertram came in at 5.4 Thursday to capture the overall title.

There was no movement in the standings for tie-down roping. A broken barrier penalty cost Giddings’ Justin Maas the title. The 10-second penalty took him from a 7.7 to a 17.7. That allowed the 8.0-second time of Dublin’s Shawn Felton on Wednesday to stand as the winner. Flat’s Danny Davis did not record a time after the calf broke free from the loop.

The steers proved elusive to most of the cowboy wrestlers. Springtown’s Garrett Winford turned over his steer in 5.8 seconds to place fourth overall and get the best time of the night. John Rodriguez of Dublin had a respectable 6.5. Brody Curbo of Whitney and Todd Anderson of Fulshear recorded times of 4.8 in earlier go-rounds to share first-place money.

It was another uneventful night for bull riders. None of the eight slated for Friday were able to finish an 8-second circuit, including Jason Stone of Little River. Groesbeck’s Chad German is still the leader with a 79.

There will be ample opportunity for bull riders to make amends as all of today’s 7 p.m. competition will be bull riding on a night billed as Bullapalooza.

twaits@temple-telegram.com