The Arizona Ridge Riders’ coaches predicted an exciting weekend—and the Arizona Ridge Riders fans in attendance at the Gila River Arena Friday and Saturday night, appear to agree.

Friday night’s PBR’s Team Series Event, Ridge Rider Days, brought wins for the Texas Rattlers, Nashville Stampede, Austin Gamblers and Arizona Ridge Riders.

The Arizona Ridge Riders barely clenched the win, with only one ride—an 86 point go by rider Alisson De Souza.

De Souza, described as one of the humblest riders on the team, reflected on the ride.

“The bulls are picked randomly, so I know if another team member were riding that bull, they would have made it too.”

De Souza’s ride put the Ridge Riders in second place for team standings, placing them only .5 behind first place–Oklahoma Freedom.

But that was night one of the competition.

The second night presented some lofty challenges for the Arizona Ridge Riders.

Namely, going head-to-head with the Texas Rattlers as the Rattlers are the first PBR team to get scoring rides for all five of their members in one night.

Another trial for the Ridge Riders included a re-ride option that was not taken by Alisson De Souza–giving him a 79.25 ride, and an infraction at 7.39 seconds by Keyshawn Whitehorse for touching the bull with his free hand.

Results came down in dramatic style to the last ride of the night for the Arizona Ridge Riders, with member Eduardo Aparecido needing a 90 point ride for the win.

Aparecido received 85.50 points—just shy of a victory.

Saturday’s loss put the Arizona Ridge Riders in fourth place, but not completely out of the running for first place.

Sunday’s event will bring it down to the first and second placeholders and a bye at the Championship event in Las Vegas.

Arizona remains .5 behind first place.

Team Manager Colby Yates told Northeast Valley News, “I never doubt their ability to go win a game, ever. It’s unfortunate that we lost, but we can come back and still get one of those number one or number two spots.”