MURRAY, KY. – After 30 minutes of football, UPIKE football showed it had the skill to contend with big-time teams, but Murray State's size and speed eventually wore the Bears down as they pulled away to beat Pikeville, 59-20.
The Bears started the game with a big spark – two 15-plus yard runs from senior Xondre Willis – which led to UPIKE taking the game's first lead at 3-0 in the opening minutes. Willis led the team with 60 total yards rushing.
First-game mistakes started to hurt the Bears from that point as Murray State leaped out to a 17-3 lead by the end of the first quarter. But, from there UPIKE showed their resolve and scored two touchdowns in the last 3:10 of the first half to cut MSU's lead to 31-17.
Gallery: (8/29/2019) UPIKE FB vs Murray State
Through the first half, UPIKE had more first downs and only 15 fewer yards than the Racers. Overall, Pikeville had eight "chunk" plays – passes for 15-plus or rushes for 10-plus yards – on the game.
Bowen Smith took care of the first score himself on a four-yard scamper up the middle as the pocket opened around him. Smith shook off some early rust to have a strong opening to his senior season, going 15-29 for 186 yards and a touchdown, plus his touchdown on the ground.
UPIKE's second score of the period came with the Bears running a two-minute drill to perfection. Smith needed just three plays before throwing a strike to Damian Sutton who broke free on the sideline for a 48-yard touchdown seven seconds before the halftime buzzer.
Murray State outscored UPIKE 28-3 in the second half. One of the better bright spots for the Bears was junior kicker Zaniel Phillips in his bid to shore up the placekicker duties, going 2-for-2 in his field goal attempts with a 42- and a 30-yarder.
Taeron Brown shined in his first game back from his injury sustained last season with a team-high eight tackles, seven of which were solo tackles, with a pass breakup. Joe Fluker was also a multi-dimensional menace with seven tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup.
UP NEXT
Pikeville will look to get its first win of the season when they travel south to take on Reinhardt on Sept. 7 at 1:30 p.m. in Waleska, Ga.
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