LAS VEGAS - After a couple of tough nights down in the dirt, Rapid City's Scott Montague pocketed $14,675 as he rode R.D. Mercer for a score of 84-1/2 to tie Bobby Mole, the 2002 World Champion, atop the eighth round bareback leaderboard at the National Finals Rodeo on Thursday night.

Montague came into Round 8 with a stomach full of butterflies after being roughed up in Round 7. He rose to the challenge, however, and ended up on top.

"It was a little tough coming into tonight," Montague said. "I was a little shaky, and I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared tonight. I was a little nervous, especially with a horse like that (RD Mercer). With a horse like that, you don't have a lot of time to think about it. It's just bang, bang, bang and then you're done."

The win jumped Montague into 11th place in the overall average in the Super Bowl of rodeo.

He's won five saddle bronc riding world titles, but Billy Etbauer had failed to cash a check in six out of seven rounds at this year's Wrangler NFR. That all changed in Round 8, when Etbauer rode Mosbrucker Rodeo Company's War Chick for 88.5 points to win the round and earn $16,394. Etbauer, of Edmond, Okla., and formerly of Ree Heights, finished 3.5 points ahead of Chet Johnson, who scored 85 points on Flying U Rodeo's Wicked Felina.

Etbauer is riding in his 19th Wrangler NFR, and he said that winning a round in Las Vegas never gets old.

"That is what a guy is here for, to win rounds, and I've been fortunate to do that," Etbauer said. "It's just fun to be able to ride with these kids. Everybody is pulling for me, not only the crowd, but the cowboys. It's unreal, it really is. People the whole day are supportive, and I can't thank everybody enough for that."

Etbauer was bucked off in five straight rounds from Round 2-6, but got back on the winning track on War Chick.

"I felt like she was doing her job," Etbauer said of the Mosbrucker horse. "I was just glad to keep my rear end in there."

For Trevor Brazile and his quest for the ever-elusive Triple Crown, it's two down, one to go. Brazile, of Decatur, Texas, finished second in the tie-down roping and tied for third place in the team roping in Round 8 of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo to officially clinch his fifth career all-around world title in front of 17,411 at the Thomas & Mack Center Thursday night.

Josh Peek of Pueblo won the tie-down roping with a 7.5 clocking.

The barrel racing results at this year's Wrangler NFR are beginning to look somewhat repetitive, and Lindsay Sears is the cause of that. The Nanton, Alberta, cowgirl won her fourth round and second one in a row with a 13.69-second run.

Letcher's Jill Moody was third with a time of 13.84.

Moody is in third place in the world standings with Lockhart in fourth.

No steer wrestler had won more rounds than Sean Mulligan heading into Round 8, and that became more apparent after the dust had cleared. Mulligan, who won a share of Round 4 and Round 6 by himself, turfed his steer in 3.4 seconds to win the steer wrestling.

Highmore's Jake Rinehart finished in a fourth place tie as he got his steer down in 3.9 seconds.

The team roping title went to Speed Williams and Dean Tuftin, and it was a fitting victory considering Tuftin is the first Canadian-born team roper to compete at the Wrangler NFR and Thursday night was Canadian Night. Williams, of Deleon, Texas, and Tuftin, who lives in Prineville, Ore., stopped the clock in 3.7 seconds.