Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira had not won a jackpot check in Global Handicaps together in 2025 before cashing one of the biggest paydays of their illustrious careers March 29 when they won their second-straight Bob Feist Invitational championship to the tune of $154,000.

They recorded the second-fastest BFI aggregate time in history along the way, roping six steers in 41.48 seconds, just behind Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith’s 2013 40.54 on six in Reno. They became only the third team in history to win back-to-back titles at the Feist, joining Charles Pogue and Britt Bockius (1999-2000) and Speed Williams and Rich Skelton (2000-2001). Kory Koontz also won back-to-back titles, but with two different headers—Rube Woolsey in 1995 and Matt Tyler in 1996.

Nogueira held his slack an extra second on the loper at high call to keep from slipping a leg, and as the flag fell in a short-round winning 6.24 seconds, Driggers and Nogueira erupted with emotion as their winter-long winless drought ended in stunning fashion.

While Driggers is hot off a Lone Star Shootout win with Nicky Northcott just last week and a winter with nearly $70,000 won in Global Handicaps-tracked ropings, he and Nogueira hadn’t won any jackpot money together in 2025—an unlikely and unsettling statistic for one of the sport’s most dominant teams.

“I’m not blaming nobody, just myself, but it never worked,” Nogueira, 34, said. “I have the best partners in the world, and my horses is getting a little old, but they’re still really, really good. But for some reason it wasn’t working. I was just kind of asking myself and asking God, I’m putting everything into it… if I’m not doing very good, maybe I’m doing something wrong… maybe I just need to step back a little bit and see what I’m supposed to do.”

Full BFI Week results

But instead of stepping back, Driggers and Nogueira doubled down.

“Me and Junior’s been grinding for the last month and a half,” Driggers, 35, said. “It’s like 20-year-old us. We got some strong steers and I got me some practice horses, and it’s just back to grinding.”

Driggers swapped out some of his big-time futurity horses in favor of a deeper string of practice horses, letting him work on his own roping more than his colts. Nogueira made the drive down Highway 281 from Lipan to Stephenville day in and day out to practice with his partner to find some solutions.

“He’s always real good, and now he’s just getting better,” Nogueira said of his partner (with just a year’s break) since 2015. “But then I feel like I’m doing all this, and maybe I’m just pushing something I’m not supposed. We all have issues and doubts—not being a baby—everything has been great. My family is healthy. I’m a lot better than the last few years my healthy wise. But then I work, work, work and then nothing goes right, and I feel like—shoot.”

That changed on March 29 at the Lazy E, though.

“There’s no medicine that helps any more than winning for your confidence, that’s for sure,” Driggers added. “Honestly, I could see Junior’s excitement, and I’m pretty level. Winning and losing is just part of the game in my opinion. And he takes it a lot more personal than I do. So for him to be able to come out here, focus six times in a row, put the rest of the bull crap in the back of his mind and just rope steer, I thought that was pretty special. Not as a teammate, not as none of that, but as brothers.”

Concentrating and executing across a roping marathon of 108 teams on the Feist’s grueling long-score and strong cattle was a feat in its own for Nogueira, who worried he was losing his focus 11 years into his career in the U.S.

“I had such a good concentration at a young age,” Nogueira explained. “And I could pretty much slow down everything, and I thought I lost it. And then the short round, I felt like I was young with all the passion to run the last steer with all my heart. Because sometimes I try to be so professional, try to do this, do that… But I could focus, and I saw Kaleb score, and I heard everybody calling, ‘You’re out!’ and I heeled him, and I could I see everything in slow motion, enough to hold my slack twice as long and not slip a leg. And that would have been easy to do with that excitement.”

While Nogueira’s ability to refocus was a watershed moment for his career’s, Driggers’ was a testament to the ice water in his veins. Marcus Theriot—who was high back at RodeoAustin the same evening as the Feist short round—borrowed Driggers’ good 7-year-old gelding, Tia B French for the BFI. In the second round, the horse fell coming out of the box, stopping the roping and silencing the crowd. While the Lazy E team jumped into action and rushed the horse to the vet in a trailer, Driggers kept his composure as his best up-and-coming mount was lost in a flash.

“I’m old enough to know that things happen,” Driggers said. “This is something that can make or break us. We can either let it affect us and not only lose a good horse, but also not do any good at this roping. I’m too focused on that. So I just said I want that out of sight, out of mind and just get my focus back and just don’t worry about what happened there and just focus on our runs. And this is a huge roping for not only me, but for him and his family as well and just needed to try and do the best that I could. Honestly when it happened, I just went out back and just sat by myself for a little bit and just didn’t really think about anything. I just sat there and relaxed, and then when I come back in here, I just focused on doing my job.”

BFI Horsepower

Driggers rode the Myers’ Performance Horses-raised Cowboy Sangria, Brooke Howell’s horse by Cowboys Cartel out of Smooth Red Red Wine by A Smooth Guy. Brenten Hall rodeos on the horse, and Hall opted to skip the Feist for the Austin short round. Driggers, whose jackpot horse Oliver has been out this winter, jumped at the chance to catch ride the gelding.

Nogueira won the roping on Smokin Copper King, the same 2010 gelding he won it on in 2024.

The Feist results