It was a good night to be an offensive player named Williams, or anybody on defense, as the University of Pikeville knocked off the University of Rio Grande 44-0 on Saturday at the W.C. Hambley Athletics Complex.
 
Senior receiver Jordan Williams finished with 148 yards on nine catches, while sophomore tailback Amon Williams had 130 yards on 24 carries to go with 44 receiving yards. Both had a touchdown.
 
For Amon Williams, it was the 13^th straight game with a touchdown, extending his school record.
 
The shutout for the Bears was the 12^th in program history for the Bears and the first since Nov. 4, 2023, when the Bears blanked now-defunct St. Andrews (N.C.) 68-0 in the final game of the season.
 
It was also another massive night for quarterback Xavier Malone. The grad student threw for 408 yards on 31 of 44 passing and four touchdowns. It was Malone's fourth 400-yard game of the season and his sixth career game of 300 or more yards, trailing only Lee Kirklard (15) and Trevor Hoskins (7).
 
The Bears got on the scoreboard with 9:30 left in the first period when Malone hooked up with Brandon Newton for the final 12 yards of a 13-play, 59-yard drive. Isaac Smith booted the extra-point for a 7-0 lead.
 
The next score for the Bears was turned in by the defense, as Marcus Nunes caught Rio Grande quarterback Peyton Molter in the end zone for a safety. UPike led 9-0 with 6:50 remaining in the half.
 
Just more than two minutes later the Bears struck again, as Malone found junior Cobe Stribling from 17 yards out for a touchdown. It ended a five-play, 51-yard drive that came with 4:35 left and made the score 16-0, which the Bears took to the half.
 
It was Stribling's first touchdown as a Bear, but wouldn't be his last of the night.
 
The Bears posted two third-quarter touchdowns. The first was a one-yard run by Amon Williams with 11:14 to play to end a seven-play, 32-yard drive. Smith's kick made the score 23-0.
 
That was followed by a 15-yard pass from Malone to Jordan Williams to run the lead to 30-0. It ended a 59-yard drive that took only six plays.
 
UPike found the end zone again with 12:11 remaining in the game when Malone hit Stribling from 32 yards out. Smith's kick pushed the lead to 37-0.
 
The final score of the game came with 5:26 left in the game when freshman Peter Zamora hit classmate Jayden Pepper from 12 yards out. Smith nailed the kick, making his six of six, and ran the score to 44-0.
 
It was the first touchdowns in the UPike careers of both Zamora and Pepper.
 
Junior safety Dige Savage had two interceptions to go with three solo tackles. Grad student Brett Coleman led the Bears with six tackles.
 
UPike will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 18, when it hosts Point (Ga.) University for homecoming. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.