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He vowed he wasn’t going to shed a tear.

But then, when has anything for Trevor Williams gone as planned during his Penn State football career?

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.

“I said all week, I wasn’t going to get emotional and cry,” Williams said. “Then I saw a few of my teammates start to get emotional. I had to fight the tears.”

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.

“We are …. Penn State.”

“For me, I’m totally zoned in,” Williams said. “But there are times when I’m on the sidelines and see the White Out and hear the ‘We are …’ chants. It’s my last home game here.

“I’ll remember it forever.”

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.

That would have been his storybook finish to four troubled years of trial and turmoil for Williams and the rest of Penn State’s out-going seniors.

Here’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’s reach, and Williams played a big part in that.

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’s goal line. It set up a touchdown run by Michigan’s De’Veon Smith that pushed the Wolverines’ lead to 12 points with 5:12 to play, and pretty much sealed Penn State’s doom.

“I ended up having a pass interference that kind of hurt us,” Williams said, before disputing the call. “As far as I’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’s the call the referees made. And it was final.

“We didn’t come out with a victory, so this one definitely hurts,” Williams continued. “Didn’t win, so it was disappointing. I hate to lose, ever. This was definitely a game I wanted to win.

“The outcome wasn’t what I wanted.”

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.

He came to Penn State as an all-state wide receiver from Maryland and was turned into a three-year starter at cornerback.

He came to play his college career for the legendary and late Lions coach Joe Paterno, and instead, wound up playing for Bill O’Brien and now James Franklin.

Williams came to play in college bowl games and wound up on a Penn State team banned from going to them for two years.

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 “Success with honor.”

But Williams wasn’t even at Penn State for a full year before the school was sullied by the Sandusky scandal that stained the school’s reputation, triggered Paterno’s dismissal and left the door open for any player to leave.

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.

“My senior class, we were under part of Joe Paterno’s staff,” Williams said. “We’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’t know what to do. But we realized we came here for a reason. Through adversity, we persevere.

“I’m just happy I did stay.”

He remained to see the bowl ban lifted, emotions elevated, spirits soaring as the team’s reputation starts to rise again.

And that was always part of the plan.

In the Huddle Paul Sokoloski
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_Paul-Sokoloski-MUG.jpg.optimal.jpgIn the Huddle Paul Sokoloski

Reach Penn State football columnist Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski