Former Natchez High School football stars Kris Weatherspoon and Sidney Davis used to dream about playing football for the LSU Tigers.

Saturday, they realized a different dream — beating the LSU Tigers in Death Valley.

The two Troy Trojans team captains experienced the jubilation of defeating No. 25 LSU, 24-21, just the Trojans’ second defeat of a ranked team in program history.

Just seven seconds into the game, one of the Natchez products made his mark.

Troy allowed LSU to receive to start the game, but on the very first play, Trojans safety Cedarius Rookard forced a fumble with a beautiful hit on LSU running back Nick Brosette.

Looking down and seeing a gift, Weatherspoon, a safety, quickly pounced on the ball, and even more quickly leapt to his feet to pump up the voracious Trojans crowd sitting in the nearby South end zone.

“I’m thinking, that’s the best way to start a game, with the first play and (recovering) the first fumble,” Weatherspoon said.

That play would set the tone for an evening of dominance by the Trojans, who scored their first touchdown five plays after recovering the fumble.

Troy held the Tigers scoreless for a huge chunk of the game, leading 17-0 until LSU finally got on the board with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Weatherspoon, who contributed seven tackles and one tackle for a loss, in addition to the fumble recovery, attributed his team’s stellar defensive performance to a focus on physicality.

“They’re supposed to be a hard-nosed football team, so we wanted to go out there and play big-boy football,” Weatherspoon said. “(We won by) being physical and giving great effort.”

Headed into a crowd of nearly 100,000 in Death Valley, Weatherspoon said he felt some nerves entering the game, but the team gained more and more confidence as the night progressed. Though the Troy crowd was extremely outnumbered, the fans made themselves heard throughout the game, their cardinal and silver standing out in a sea of purple and gold.

“It almost felt like a home game in there, they were so loud,” Davis, who plays wide receiver, said.

“It was a great experience. It’s something that I always dreamed of doing, playing on a national stage … School’s like that — LSU, Florida, big-time schools — it’s always been a dream to play there, to go in there and knock them off.”

Now as a senior and junior, respectively, Weatherspoon and Davis have seen their camaraderie grow, from their childhood days, through high school and all the way through their marquee moment against the Tigers.

“We’re closer to each other, so now we can lean on each other,” Weatherspoon said. “It was our dream to go to LSU, so it was nice to beat them.”

Davis said the two would workout together in high school, both of them with the aspirations of playing Division I football.

“We just always worked together and stayed (true) to our goal and made it happen,” Davis said.

And despite Saturday’s big win, neither Trojan is getting complacent.

“Beating LSU was great, but our main goal is to win the Sun Belt Conference,” Weatherspoon said.

Davis even said he has aspirations of reaching a New Year’s Six bowl game.

“It’s been a good ride so far, but we’re far from finished,” Davis said. “There’s still a lot more football to be played.”