PIKEVILLE, Ky. – In their first Appalachian Athletics Conference football game, the University of Pikeville announced its presence with authority in a 52-10 win over Union College.  
 
Senior quarterback Lee Kirkland established new school records with 38 pass completions, 58 pass attempts and 614 passing yards, while equaling the school benchmark with six touchdown passes.
 
Kirkland's numbers for completions, attempts and yards are all new standards for the AAC.
 
In addition, graduate student Derrick Griffith became the first Bear to catch for more than 200 yards, hauling in 10 for 233 yards and two scores. The yards are also a new AAC record.
 
The Bears also set league records with 681 yards of total offense, while Kirkland's passing numbers are all records for a team in the conference.
 
Finally, the 52 points is the second most ever scored by an AAC team.
 
Kirkland's six touchdown passes were evenly distributed, as Griffith, grad student Alex Sanders and senior D'Andre Stafford each caught two of them.
 
Kirkland's attack began with 13:!4 left in the opening period when he found senior tailback Alex Sanders for a 13-yard touchdown. Senior Jakob Headley booted the extra-point for a 7-0 lead.
 
Kirkland made it 14-0 when he found D'Andre Stafford from six yards out with 10:02 to play in the first to push it to 14-0. He followed with an 86-yard pass to Derrick Griffith to make it 21-0 with 4:26 still left in the opening period.
 
Union found the scoreboard for the first time with 42 seconds left when Dustin Brown split the uprights from 32 yards away to cut the lead to 21-2.
 
The clock turned to the second period before the Bears posted the prettiest of all the scoring plays. Kirkland scrambled on third down and found Sanders near the sideline. He caught it, turned and – as he approached the 15-yard line, eluded the last potential tackler with a beautiful spin move to free himself for the score.
 
Headley's kick came with 13:11 left in the half to make the lead 28-3.
 
Before the break, Kirkland landed a five-yard pass to Stafford with only nine seconds left, taking a 35-3 lead to recess.
 
Scoring in the second half began with a 20-yard field goal by Headley with 11:07 left in the third.
 
Kirkland then heated back up, finding Griffith from 21 yards out to make the score 45-3 with 5:51 left in the frame.
 
Union responded when backup quarterback Bryson Grabowski ran for a two-yard touchdown with 9:32 left in the game to make the score 45-10.
 
Scoring ended with 6:18 left, junior Tyrese Christian scored on a 37-yard touchdown run.
 
Defensively, sophomore Chuck Moore led tacklers with seven solo tackles. Grad student Joe Timp added six.
 
Sophomore Dige Savage and junior Obie Wilson had interceptions for the Bears.
 
Union was 22-of-38 for 205 yards, with two interceptions. The leading receiver was sophomore Tony Norman, who caught six passes for 68 yards.
 
On the ground, freshman Jayden Ward had 14 carries for 59 yards. As a team, the Bulldogs had 130 yards on 36 tries.
 
The Bears will be back in action next Saturday when they travel to play No. 24 Reinhardt (Ga.) University. The next home game is on Oct. 14 when the Bears entertain Kentucky Christian University.
 
That game will be homecoming for the school.