BARBOURVILLE, Ky. – Quarterback Lee Kirkland accounted for six touchdowns on Saturday night as the University of Pikeville remained unbeaten in AAC play with a 62-35 win over Union Commonwealth University.
 
Kirkland, a graduate student from Bluffton, S.C., threw for four touchdowns and ran for two more as the Bears improved to 3-4 on the season but most importantly, 3-0 in the conference.
 
Union Commonwealth fell to 2-5 overall, 1-2 in the league.
 
Six different Bears scored touchdowns in the win.
 
The Bears scored first, as Kirkland ended an eight-play, 65-yard drive by carrying the final 14 yards for a score. With 11:09 left in the opening period, senior kicker Austan Shuffler's PAT made it 7-0.
 
The Bulldogs were quick to answer, however. Bryson Grabowski hit Tony Norman from 21 yards out, and Dustin Brown tied the game with nine minutes left.
 
Before the period was out, the Bears had scored two more times. The first came when Kirkland kept from a yard out before he hit Jalen Royal-Eiland from 49 yards away to make it 21-7 with 2:26 left in the opening period.
 
Union opened the second quarter with a score, as Grabowski again found Norman, this time from 27 yards, to make it 21-14.
 
UPike then ran a 14-play, 60-yard drive that took 6:19 off the scoreboard and ended with a one-yard run by Tyrese Christian. Before the half closed, Kirkland found Grant Scott across the middle for a six-yard score after a failed fake punt gave the Bears the ball at the six.
 
At the half, the Bears led 33-14.
 
The first points of the second half belonged to the Bulldogs. A seven-play, 50 yard drive resulted in a five-yard pass from Grabowski to Isaiah Johnson, cutting the lead to 33-21 with 11:24 left in the third.
 
UPike wasted no time responding. A six-play, 70-yard drive took only 2:06 and ended when Kirkland found Brandon Newton in the end zone from 36-yards out. The kick made it 40-21.
 
The Bears' next score came on a three-yard run by freshman Amon Williams with 2:50 left in the third quarter. After a penalty cut the distance in half, Kirkland scored the conversion on a keeper to make it 48-21.
 
The UPike defense got in on the act next, as Clayton Hutto blocked a punt and picked it up at the three-yard line and motored into the end zone. Shuffler's kick made it 55-21 with 1:39 still to play in the third.
 
UPike's final score came with 10:29 left as Kirkland hit Newton from 22 yards out.
 
Union responded with two more, coming on 78-yard and six-yard passes from Grabowski to Johnson to set the final score.
 
Kirkland was 31-of-47 for 322 yards and the four touchdowns. On the ground, he picked up  37 yards on seven carries with two more scores.
 
His 31 completions gave him 219 for the season, which ties his total last year when he established a new single-season record. He still has three regular-season games to play.
 
Williams recorded his third 100-yard rushing performance of the season and the second in as many weeks with 109 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown.
 
Royal-Eiland led the receiving corps with 109 yards on eight catches. Newton, a junior from Fairfield, Calif., had 83 yards on four catches and his first two touchdowns of the season.
 
Tight end Grant Scott caught five for 41 yards and a score.
 
Grabowski had a huge night of his own, throwing for five touchdowns. Johnson scored three times and had 97 receiving yards, while Norman caught three, two of them winding up in the end zone, for 55 yards.
 
Freshman Caleb Anderson led the defensive unit with eight tackles. Sophomore nose guard Landon Rowe followed with six tackles, including a tackle for loss.
 
Pikeville will return home on Saturday evening when they host Bluefield (Va.) University at 7 p.m. at the W.C. Hambley Athletics Complex.