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Penn State Notebook: Nittany Lions come up small in red zone

<p>He vowed he wasn&#8217;t going to shed a tear.</p><p>But then, when has anything for Trevor Williams gone as planned during his Penn State football career?</p><p>So when he walked through the tunnel and into Beaver Stadium one final time, Williams found himself struggling mightily to hold his composure as he felt himself welling up.</p><p>&#8220;I said all week, I wasn&#8217;t going to get emotional and cry,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;Then I saw a few of my teammates start to get emotional. I had to fight the tears.&#8221;</p><p>He saw his last White-Out on Saturday, heard his last fight song at home, listened closer than ever to the Nittany Lions-loving crowd chant the words that will ring in his head for a lifetime.</p><p>&#8220;We are &#8230;. Penn State.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;For me, I&#8217;m totally zoned in,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;But there are times when I&#8217;m on the sidelines and see the White Out and hear the &#8216;We are &#8230;&#8217; chants. It&#8217;s my last home game here.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll remember it forever.&#8221;</p><p>He wanted to remember running off the field in glee and glory, with Beaver Stadium shaking under the celebration of a crowd delighted by their Lions lifting themselves up just in time to steal a victory away from mighty Michigan.</p><p>That would have been his storybook finish to four troubled years of trial and turmoil for Williams and the rest of Penn State&#8217;s out-going seniors.</p><p>Here&#8217;s the real book on what happened in the last game for Williams at Beaver Stadium. Michigan secured a 28-16 victory it pretty much dominated with a late 40-yard touchdown drive that put the game out of Penn State&#8217;s reach, and Williams played a big part in that.</p><p>He was flagged for a 15-yard penalty, on a key pass interference call trying to defend receiver Jehu Chesson, which moved the ball to the shadow of Penn State&#8217;s goal line. It set up a touchdown run by Michigan&#8217;s De&#8217;Veon Smith that pushed the Wolverines&#8217; lead to 12 points with 5:12 to play, and pretty much sealed Penn State&#8217;s doom.</p><p>&#8220;I ended up having a pass interference that kind of hurt us,&#8221; Williams said, before disputing the call. &#8220;As far as I&#8217;m concerned, we both were competing. He (Chesson) was grabbing my face mask and I was trying to get him off of me. But that&#8217;s the call the referees made. And it was final.</p><p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t come out with a victory, so this one definitely hurts,&#8221; Williams continued. &#8220;Didn&#8217;t win, so it was disappointing. I hate to lose, ever. This was definitely a game I wanted to win.</p><p>&#8220;The outcome wasn&#8217;t what I wanted.&#8221;</p><p>Yet, it was the perfect home finish to a college career filled with so much imperfection, it rearranged almost every one of his grand ideas.</p><p>He came to Penn State as an all-state wide receiver from Maryland and was turned into a three-year starter at cornerback.</p><p>He came to play his college career for the legendary and late Lions coach Joe Paterno, and instead, wound up playing for Bill O&#8217;Brien and now James Franklin.</p><p>Williams came to play in college bowl games and wound up on a Penn State team banned from going to them for two years.</p><p>He came to a program with an ideal image and a reputation for churning out exemplary citizens, superior students and fantastic football players - in that order - under the refrain &#8220;Success with honor.&#8221;</p><p>But Williams wasn&#8217;t even at Penn State for a full year before the school was sullied by the Sandusky scandal that stained the school&#8217;s reputation, triggered Paterno&#8217;s dismissal and left the door open for any player to leave.</p><p>He remained, along with graduating starters Kyle Carter, Ben Kline, Angelo Mangini, Carl Nassib and Anthony Zettel - who all played their careers under four different coaches at Penn State - starting with Paterno.</p><p>&#8220;My senior class, we were under part of Joe Paterno&#8217;s staff,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve pretty much seen the highs and lows of the program. When it (the Sandusky scandal) did happen, we were 18, 19 years old. We didn&#8217;t know what to do. But we realized we came here for a reason. Through adversity, we persevere.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just happy I did stay.&#8221;</p><p>He remained to see the bowl ban lifted, emotions elevated, spirits soaring as the team&#8217;s reputation starts to rise again.</p><p>And that was always part of the plan.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In the Huddle Paul Sokoloski </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_Paul-Sokoloski-MUG.jpg</photo0><caption0>In the Huddle Paul Sokoloski </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Penn State football columnist Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

In the Huddle with Paul Sokoloski: Sour finish in final home game proves to be perfect ending for Penn State’s Trevor Williams