Cole Rothwell scores a 221.5 to win the Western Horseman Cup Non-Pro Finals on Friday. Rothwell gave up football to show cutting horses. Steve Norman/Special

Cole Rothwell pondered the decision.

Last spring, he came out of practice as Wylie High School's No. 1 quarterback. He could've been the man in Abilene, Texas.

Or he could dedicate most of his time to showing cutting horses. The equine sport is nothing new to him. He first started showing at age 4.

Ultimately, Rothwell chose his first love.

"I decided I wasn't going to play (football) and I was going to work with (trainer) Bubba Matlock all summer," he said. "I knew I had to make a decision, because usually I just go show horses and come back and play football. I wanted my senior year either to all out show horses or fully develop in football."

There's no need for Rothwell to second guess his decision after Friday. He and Peppys Stylish Lena marked 221.5 to win the Augusta Futurity Western Horseman Cup Non-Pro Finals at James Brown Arena.

Rothwell collected $15,000 for his first Augusta victory. Julia Hansma of Weatherford, Texas, and Bob Dualin placed second at 219.5 for $10,000. Wesley Galyean of Ardmore, Okla., and Starlite By The Bay finished third (219, $7,000).

"It means a whole bunch to me lot to know that I can compete with everyone else in this class," Rothwell said.

The 17-year-old Rothwell chose Peppys Stylish Lena when she was a yearling and his parents, Rick and Priscilla, purchased her. The mare is by Docs Stylish Lena out of Peppys Playful Lena. Cole said the horse is every bit as fierce out of the pen as she is in it.

"She's very mean," he said. "She kicks horses in the trailer. She'll pin her ears all the time and bite at you or kick at you."

Priscilla gets along well with the horse. She always gets the mare ready because Peppys Stylish Lena won't allow Cole to do the job.

"If I try to lope her or if my dad goes to lope her, she gets mad at us," he said. "Or we get mad because she pins her ears and won't go anywhere. But mom will get on her and she'll go on just like nothing's bothering her."

It had been a horrible week for Cole leading up to Friday night. He scratched his other good gelding, Lena Tarisis, in the Classic Non-Pro. He also failed to make the finals of the Classic Non-Pro on his other horse. And he failed to advance out of the first go-round in the Futurity Non-Pro.

"I was really glad tonight happened, because it was getting really tough around our house," he said. "Since we came here, we're staying out in the motor home, and the bus has been real quiet because we had not done good yet."

Rothwell got no breaks in the Western Horseman Cup Non-Pro finals. He drew next-to-last in Thursday's draw and chose the last position of the 15-horse finals.

"I didn't like the draw at all," he said. "I wasn't real happy about it. But Austin Shepard won the night before in the (Classic) Open being last. So you can still do it."

From the Thursday, January 27, 2007 edition of the Augusta Chronicle