On a high-scoring Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium, Troy’s defense outlasted the offense, 148-141, to win the inaugural T-Day under head coach Gerad Parker.

It was a non-traditional spring game for the Trojans as the afternoon featured 1-on-1 competitions and a skill showdown, which included a couple of Troy legends.

“Rosters are different now, and the game of college football is different,” head coach Gerad Parker said. “We took on some things with our roster during the spring with injuries and other things, nothing permanent, but we had to be smarter (about today’s format). We wanted to be creative and also competitive, and I thought our guys embraced it, took a mature approach to it, and had a fun day.”

The defense won seven of the 11 1-on-1 competitions in the first quarter, which featured receivers vs. defensive backs and the offensive line and defensive front squaring off. In the 7-on-7 portion of the first quarter, Trent Henry provided some fireworks with a 72-yard interception return for a touchdown before Goose Crowder hit Zeriah Beason for a 27-yard touchdown.

Beason caught his second touchdown of this game, a 25-yard strike from Tucker Kilcrease in the Race to 18, while Nick Troemel and Scott Taylor Renfroe booted a pair of field goals. Luke Hodge came up with a big fourth-down stop for the defense, but a 25-yard touchdown pass from Kilcrease to Jordan Lovett won that part of the day for the offense.

In the open field part of the scrimmage, the defense recorded five sacks, including two from Jordan Perry. Beason hauled in his third score of the day, this one a 43-yard connection with Kilcrease to put another seven points on the board for the offense.

After the kickers and punters put on a show, it was time for the skills competition, which included former Troy quarterbacks Gunnar Watson and Corey Robinson, plus running back Jordan Chunn and receiver Chandler Worthy.

With the score tied at 141-all, defensive tackle Julian Peterson caught a punt that won the game for the defense.