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The Troy Trojans (1-4, 0-1) opened up Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday night with a 13-9 loss to the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (3-1, 1-0) at home on Military Appreciation Day.

It was a frustrating game for the Trojans, who once again saw starting quarterback Goose Crowder go down with an injury in the first quarter. Defensive lineman Luis Medina also missed most of the game with an injury and backup quarterback Tucker Kilcrease suffered an ankle injury late in the game.

“This is a devastating loss for our team, in front of a home crowd, and certainly not the result any of us wanted nor will we ever accept it,” a frustrated Troy Coach Gerad Parker said after the game. “We’re looking at a football team right now that is playing without its starting quarterback again, that was pivotal to this game. We could not find any explosive plays in the passing game.”

Troy attempted just 11 pass attempts against ULM and gained just 71 yards through the air. Still, Troy rushed for 201 yards on the ground and the Trojan defense forced its first turnover of the season.

“We ran the ball effectively. If you would have told me we would win the turnover margin and run the ball for 200 yards I would have told you we win this game and that obviously did not happen,” Parker said. “It didn’t happen mostly because of killed drives because of penalties, and certainly some ill advised explosive (plays) from their offense late in the game. I’m frustrated but I’m still going to fight for our staff and players to get this thing turned around.”

Troy got on the scoreboard first with a 37-yard field goal from Troy native Scott Taylor Renfroe with 9:02 left in the first quarter. ULM responded with a 42-yard field goal of its own with 3:09 left in the opening period to tie things up 3-3.

Troy retook the lead on a career-long 49-yard field goal from Renfroe with 57 seconds left in the first half to give the Trojans a 6-3 lead at halftime.

With 4:07 remaining in the third quarter, ULM tied things up 6-6. In the fourth quarter, Troy’s Justin Powe intercepted a pass in Trojan territory, earning the first turnover of the season for the Troy defense. Kilcrease then led Troy on a 10-play drive that Renfroe capped off with a 36-yard field goal to retake the lead 9-6 for the Trojans.

With 9:08 remaining the game, ULM broke the touchdown drought with a 1-yard touchdown run from Ahmad Hardy. Neither team would put any points on the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.

Roy netted 272 total yards, while ULM earned 247 yards of offense. The Trojans were penalized 10 times for 84 yards and the Warhawks were penalized eight times for 65 yards.

Gerald Green led the Troy offense with 102 yards on 13 carries, while Damien Taylor tallied 71 yards on 17 carries. Kilcrease completed 6-of-10 passes for 57 yards and rushed for 55 yards on nine carries.

The Troy defense was led by Devin Lafayette with eight tackles and one tackle-for-loss, while Ian Conerly-Goodly totaled eight tackles and one tackle-for-loss. Powe earned seven tackles, one tackle-for-loss and an interception.

Troy won’t have much time to get over this loss as the Trojans will host Texas State on Thursday night at 6 p.m. in a game that will air on ESPNU.