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Fans brave cold to enjoy Lions’ first playoff win

UNIVERSITY PARK — Lewistown native Mark Coulter didn’t let a little six-hour drive and freezing temperatures keep him from missing the first-ever College Football Playoff game in Happy Valley on Saturday.

Coulter and his 10-year-old son, Dilan, made the trip from their home in Troy, Ohio, to University Park to watch their beloved Penn State Nittany Lions stampede SMU 38-10 at Beaver Stadium.

“Most definitely,” Mark said when asked if Dilan had a good time at the game. “We couldn’t miss the playoff game … even if it’s 10 degrees out. White out!”

Both father and son wore layers of clothing, topped off with white so they could join the rest of the Nittany Lion fans in the White Out conditions.

Certainly, others from the Juniata Valley joined the Coulters among the 106,000-plus fans at the inaugural playoff game.

Ray Hoppel and his son, Grady, both of Lewistown, were there, too. “It’s a cold one!,” Hoppel posted on social media, with a photo of the two bundled from head to toe.

Ray’s post on social media drew a reply from a relative, Terri, who lives in Port Charlotte, Fla. “Glad Penn State won and now for the Steelers to win! Rooting from chilly Florida,” she wrote.

On Saturday, Port Charlotte was a balmy 52 degrees, compared to Happy Valley.

Ray replied, joking, “Cheering on the Steelers here as well. Although I’m guessing your Florida chilly is a little different than our Pennsylvania chilly! Haha.”

Penn State’s Dominic DeLuca and Tony Rojas both returned interceptions for touchdowns during the first half as the Nittany Lions toyed with mistake-prone SMU early before blowing them out.

The pick-sixes sent the White-Out crowd at wintry Beaver Stadium into a frozen frenzy and SMU into a funk from which it never recovered.

“It was a fun day,” said Brian Heckert, of Reedsville, who was part of a group of 25 to 30 fans at the game. “It was great to be part of history.

“The offense was a little sluggish, but the defense came to play,” Heckert added. “The crowd and the weather did make a difference.”

The last two quarters were mostly a chance for the crowd that braved temperatures in the low 20s with a pretty steady breeze to soak in the kind of big-game victory that hasn’t happened quite as often as they would like.

Zachary and Kristyn Knepp, of Belleville, attend a couple of Nittany Lion football games each year. They were glad to have the opportunity to go Saturday.

“We wanted to go, but we thought tickets were going to be outrageous,” Zachary said. “Friends had some tickets, so we tailgated with them.

“It was cool to be part of history,” Zachary added. “We’ll remember it forever, for the rest of our lives.”

The freezing temperatures did little to dampen Penn State faithful’s fervor.

“The energy was crazy,” Zachary explained. “It got super loud on third and fourth down. With the two pick-sixes, the place just went crazy.”

With one test now passed, another big one awaits in the Arizona desert as Penn State faces Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31.

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