Troy University Athletics
Trojans Hang on for 24-19 Win over Louisiana-Monroe in Sun Belt Conference Opener
10/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
TROY, Ala. - The Troy Trojans took their first Sun Belt victory of the year, beating Louisiana-Monroe by a score of 24-19 Saturday night at Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium.
It was a highly-contested, three-phase football game and I'm proud to be able to come out on top,” Troy coach Larry Blakeney said.
It was a heck of a win. We're 1-0 in the league and one step closer to our biggest and number one goal, to win the conference.”
The Trojans (2-4, 1-0) used a balanced offensive attack, with 37 total rushing attempts and 40 passes, to pile up 407 yards of total offense against the Warhawks (1-5, 0-3).
True freshman running back Justin Brooks had the best game of his young career, rushing for 64 yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns.
I think he might have surprised them a little with his power game and he was good to us all night,” Blakeney said of the young star. I thought it was a great decision to use him.”
Junior quarterback Omar Haugabook threw for a career high 246 yards to help lead the Trojans to the victory.
After coming off four straight road games, two of which came against top 25 teams, and a bye week last week, a home victory was just what the Trojans needed.
Things did not start out on such a great foot for the Trojans. Haugabook's first pass of the night, the first play of the game for Troy, was intercepted by Kevin Payne at the Troy 44-yard line, and returned to the Troy 20.
Every ball that we had intercepted was either touched by one of our guys or tipped by one of their guys so it was not the normal way to get them,” Blakeney said. I certainly know that we do not endorse turnovers; we try to make sure that we are a sound and solid offense.”
Seven plays later, Cole Wilson connected on a 25-yard field goal to put the Warhawks up 3-0 with 11:30 left in the first quarter.
On Troy's next possession, the Trojans used a 41-yard kickoff return by Leodis McKelvin, who had 128 total return yards, to set up a 10 play, 59-yard scoring drive. Brooks scored the touchdown, his first of two on the night, on the second carry of his career.
The other guys just got the creases for me,” McKelvin said about his kickoff returns. All I had to do was use my God-given speed and hit the holes.”
Troy orchestrated another 10-play, 59-yard drive that ended in a 25-yard Greg Whibbs field goal early in the second quarter.
After the defense held the Warhawks to one set of downs, Troy converted on a fourth down with a Brooks 10-yard run. Haugabook then went 5-of-6, finishing with a seven-yard pass to Justin Bray for his first career touchdown to put the Trojans up 17-3.
It's good coming in as a freshman and getting playing time and getting into the end zone,” Bray said. It was a great feeling.”
The Warhawks connected on a 35-yard field goal to make the score 17-6 before the half.
The Warhawks came out after halftime with a fury, scoring on a five-play, 80-yard touchdown drive using only 1:57 of the clock.
The drive included a 61-yard wide receiver pass from Darrell McNeal to J.J. McCoy, down to the Troy four yard line. Erroll Hogan followed up the play with a touchdown run to complete the drive.
Freshman Boris Lee forced a fumble to give the Trojans great field position at the ULM 38-yard line. The Trojans ran the ball five straight downs to punch the ball in with Brooks' second touchdown run of the night.
The Warhawks made it close in the fourth quarter, scoring on a 12-play, 76-yard drive that ended in a Calvin Dawson 1-yard run.
The two-point conversion failed to keep the score at 24-19.
The Warhawks made it deep into Trojan territory twice late in the fourth quarter with both drives ending in stops by the Trojan defense.
We've gone over those situations over and over in practice and we've won in those situations in practice,” ULM coach Charlie Weatherbie said. We've got to find a way to do it in a game.”
The last two drives for the Warhawks ended in a Josh Maxwell interception at the 2-yard line and a turnover on downs, coming up short by one yard. McKelvin came up to make the stop and seal the game for the Trojans.
We felt like we still had a chance, even though they picked it off down there,” Weatherbie said. We had an opportunity to go down in two minutes and find a way to score a touchdown and we didn't get it done.”
The Trojans capped off the game with Haugabook kneeling on the ball the last two plays to run the clock out.
I'm as proud as I can be,” Blakeney said. I hope we didn't get too many people hurt but we do have another open date.”
The Trojans will have another bye week this week before taking on North Texas at home on Oct. 28 at 2:30 p.m.
