KINGSTON, R.I. – The University of Maine football team went into Saturday’s Atlantic 10 game against Rhode Island with a defense depleted by injuries and minus its top two tacklers for disciplinary reasons.

Rather than fold, the Black Bears responded.

Arel Gordon bolted 97 yards on a kickoff return in the fourth quarter, ending a 21-point Rams rally as UMaine earned a 42-28 victory at windy, cold Meade Stadium.

URI officials plowed three inches of snow off the field to get it ready for the game.

UMaine (5-5 overall, 3-4 A-10) built a 27-0 lead, then the Rams (4-6, 2-5 A-10) cut it to six points with 7:55 left. The Bears seized the momentum of Gordon’s return to prevail.

“We made a couple of huge plays, a turnover on defense and Arel’s kickoff return,” said UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove.

It was memorable day for senior tailback Marcus Williams, who became UMaine’s all-time leading rusher. He took a quick handoff on a trap play up the middle in the first quarter and bulled his way 19 yards and into the record books.

“It feels great. Personally, it just shows some of my hard work has paid off and I’ve been blessed not to get hurt that much,” said Williams, who also gave credit to his teammates.

“Without those guys blocking for me, none of this would have been possible,” he added.

Williams, who carried 14 times for 126 yards, now has 3,922 in his career. He passed UMaine greats Carl Smith (3,820) and Lorenzo Bouier (3,828) on his way to the mark.

“I want to congratulate Marcus on his record,” Cosgrove said. “I think that’s something that really embodies our football team because of what we do and he’s been a workhorse guy for us the past few years.”

The 5-foot-10, 230-pounder from Amherst, Mass., also went over the 1,000-yard mark for the third straight season.

“It’s been great blocking for him. I feel great that I’ve been able to be a part of his record,” said center Ben Lazarski. “It’s a great accomplishment for him and I’m really proud of him.”

Rhode Island’s option attack began to fatigue UMaine in the fourth quarter and the hosts scored on three straight possessions during a span of 6:58.

A fumble and a blocked punt set up two of the TDs and D.J. Porter’s 2-yard run made it 27-21 with 7:55 to play.

With UMaine reeling, Gordon and the kickoff return team restored the confidence. The speedster took the ball at the 3, hit a seam on the left side, then cut toward the middle and sprinted away from the Rams.

“I had been saying the whole day, ‘just stay on your blocks and we’ll make something happen,'” Gordon said. “I just used the blocks to my advantage and cut across the grain because I knew they had a wet field so people couldn’t really catch their balance as fast.”

The Bears iced it after James Henry stripped the ball from halfback Calvin Poole and Joan Quezada returned it 46 yards to the URI 11. Ron Whitcomb split two defenders with a pass to Josh Radulski for a 4-yard TD that iced it with 3:56 left.

“We got a little worn down at the end obviously and Rhode Island got it rolling, but we fought and we found ways and that’s important in the game of football,” Cosgrove said.

With leading tackler Brandon McGowan and No. 2 tackler Daren Stone benched because of separate, undisclosed violations of team rules, the UMaine defense responded.

Junior linebacker Jermaine Walker set the tone with 14 tackles, while Agean Robinson made nine. Linebacker Anthony Hicks recorded eight tackles and recovered two fumbles, returning one 30 yards for the first touchdown.

Henry had seven tackles in place of McGowan and Alex Goyins made five in replacing Stone. Tackle Mike DeVito had six tackles and played every rep after the loss last week of Pat Pa’u to a broken left arm.

“I know two of our players who are basically our stars on defense couldn’t play,” Walker said, “but [the backups] basically went out there and gave it their all. [URI] got a couple big ones, but we just stuck together and we did what we had to do.”

The offense was productive while implementing a quarterback platoon with sophomore Whitcomb and junior backup Chris Legree. Whitcomb completed 13 of 16 passes for 178 yards and a TD, while Legree went 2-for-8 for 39 yards and rushed five times for 17 yards.

The Bears led 14-0 at halftime thanks to two defensive gems.

Late in the first, end Marcus Walton forced QB Jordan Bowers to fumble. Hicks scooped it up and raced into the end zone.

Early in the second, with URI threatening after a blocked punt, Bowers fumbled on third-and-goal from the 3 and Hicks recovered again.

On UMaine’s next possession Mellow avoided a heavy punt rush, escaped to his right, and ran 26 yards to the UM 44. He bowled over URI’s Gary Thomas in the process, sending the Bears into a celebration.

“The thing that made it special was, the kicker’s always thought of as the least physical player on the team, and for our kicker to lower his shoulder for what possibly was the biggest hit of the game, that really got everyone fired up,” Williams said.

UMaine cashed in as a 39-yard pass from Whitcomb to Christian Pereira set up Owens’ 4-yard TD run to make it 14-0.

BLACK BEARS 42, RAMS 28

Maine (5-5) 7 7 13 15 – 42

Rhode Island (4-6) 0 0 0 28 – 28

UM – Hicks 30 fumble recovery (Mellow kick)

UM – Owens 4 run (Mellow kick)

UM – M. Williams 37 run (Mellow kick)

UM – M. Williams 6 run (rush failed)

URI – J. Jones 15 run (Gallagher kick)

URI – Ham 2 run (Gallagher kick)

URI – Porter 2 run (Gallagher kick)

UM – Gordon 97 kickoff return (Ry. Waller pass from Whitcomb)

UM – Radulski 4 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

URI – West 1 run (Gallagher kick)

Maine URI

First downs 19 21

Rushing att.-yards 37-208 70-322

Passing comp.-att. 15-25 1-8

Passing yards 217 14

Total yards 425 336

Punts-avg. 6-22.2 5-32.0

Fumbles-lost 3-2 5-3

Intercepted by 1 4

Penalties-yards 7-65 6-54

Rushing

Maine: M. Williams 14-126, Owens 12-36, Mellow 1-26, Legree 5-17, Goree 1-5, Gordon 1-2, Whitcomb 3-(minus 4); URI: Ham 24-123, Poole 16-98, West 6-46, Jones 11-27, Porter 8-23, Campbell 2-3, Bowers 3-2

Passing

Maine: Whitcomb 13-16-0178, Legree 2-8-0-39, Team 0-1-0-0; URI: Porter 1-7-1-14, Bowers 0-1-0-0

Receiving

Maine: Pereira 5-67, Radulski 3-43, Owens 2-48, Gordon 2-13, Ry. Waller 1-32, Nwosu 1-7, Ababio 1-7; URI: Hill 1-14

A-2,068