BARBOURVILLE, Ky. — The University of Pikeville football team scored the first points of the game on a safety and had a wide receiver throw its first touchdown pass on its way to a feel-good end to the season with a 39-20 win over Union on Saturday.
It feels good because after a 2-6 start, the Bears bounced back to win their final three games to finish 5-6 overall with a 4-2 mark in Mid-South Conference East Division play. With that record, the Bears end the season in third place in the MSC East, their best finish since tying for second place in 2005.
Last season UPIKE finished in a tie for third with Lindsey Wilson, although the Blue Raiders had the head-to-head advantage.
Three UPIKE seniors got to end their careers with big performances, including Shawntez Johnson catching four passes for 100 yards with a long of 50, Seth Millar carrying the ball 17 times for 95 yards and a touchdown and John Dudley Hilton helping the defense along with seven tackles, including one for a loss.
The Bears led the Bulldogs in total offense 522-339 and fought for 28 first downs, compared to 23 for Union.
After falling behind 9-0, the Bulldogs went back-and-forth trading field goals with UPIKE to make it 12-6 early in the third quarter. Quan Weaver, who finished with 72 yards on the ground, scored the first touchdown of the second half to push the lead out even further at 19-6.
But Union (1-9, 1-5 MSC East) quarterback Chandler Whittlesey kept his team in the game, keeping it for a three-yard score just before the third quarter ended. Hanging onto a six-point lead, the Bears responded in a big way, getting two quick touchdowns in the final quarter.
Sani Warren struck first, hitting tight end Jamon Langford for a 27-yard touchdown, followed by Millar adding a 12-yard touchdown run four minutes later. Whittlesey threw for a touchdown halfway through the quarter, but the Bears were still up by 13 and added a punctuation mark to the season finale with a 22-yard Weaver run in the final 30 seconds.
Warren finished 19-of-29 passing for 254 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Whittlesey had similar numbers, completing 15-of-25 passes for 204 yards with a touchdown and pick. Wide receiver Shawntay Zachary provided the early fireworks for the Bears, throwing a seven-yard touchdown pass to Warren to put UPIKE up 9-0.
Zachary added another completion to finish 2-for-2, showing off his roots when he played quarterback at Bell County in high school.
Donald Styles once again had a huge game for the Pikeville defense, tallying a team-best 11 tackles, coming down with an interception, returning a fumble and making two tackles for a loss. Jordan Mattingly and Quan Fletcher came up with some big plays as well, finishing with two sacks each.
