Orange bowl story

So the Orange Bowl matchup between Penn State and Florida State drifted into the early morning, a defensive struggle that never seemed to end.

Finally, when it was all finished, the hero was one of those kickers who looked like he might never get it right.

Penn State freshman Kevin Kelly overcame a heart-sinking field goal miss at the end of the fourth quarter to make a 29-yarder as the Nittany Lions won, 26-23, in three overtimes.

“Obviously, this year has been one of the most rewarding,� said Penn State coach Joe Paterno. “To win this one the way we did at the end, is a great tribute to these kids and this coaching staff. ... This was the longest game I’ve ever been in.�

It was a tense struggle throughout, a draining game of injuries and cramps and bunches of timeouts.

And at one point, it looked as if Spring Grove’s Jimmy Shaw was going to end up a Penn State hero of sorts as the third quarter melted into the fourth.

Amazingly, that ended up being about two hours from the eventual finish of the game.

The Lions were protecting a precarious 14-13 lead at the time when the defense backed up the Seminoles inside their own 10-yard line.

It was third down when quarterback Drew Weatherford dropped back to pass from his own end zone. Shaw, a backup defensive end, rushed hard from the left side. He forced Weatherford to throw the ball too quickly, throwing where there wasn’t a receiver.

Intentional grounding from the end zone.

A safety and a 16-13 lead and the ball with the fourth quarter beginning.

It nearly was a huge play. The Lions received wonderful field position after the free kick and drove down near the goal line.

But a bad snap ended up blowing up the opportunity as Florida State recovered the fumble at the 5. A touchdown may have been too much for the Seminoles to overcome.

Instead, FSU got the ball without damage, hit a big pass play and then watched as PSU star linebacker Paul Posluszny was helped off the field with a right knee injury with 6:29 to play.

It was the third starter the Lions had lost to injury in the game, following tailback Tony Hunt and fullback BranDon Snow.

Instead of a touchdown and a 10-point lead, the Lions gave up enough yards on defense ... and a 48-yard field goal.

It was tied at 16 with four minutes to play.

Early on, Austin Scott was the surprise star for the Nittany Lions.

The high school phenom and expected tailback savior has been relegated to seldom-used backup the past two seasons.

He didn’t even touch the ball in Penn State’s final two regular season games. So Tuesday night’s work was his first since Oct. 29.

He bettered that in just a few first-quarter plays against FSU, on the second drive of the game.

He ran the first play for six yards. He came back a bit later with a 12-yard burst up the middle. Then, on third-and-three, he took a quick hit up the middle and broke it long and left for 28 yards to the Seminoles’ 11.

Two plays later he high-stepped in clean from 2 yards out and the Lions led 7-0 with five minutes left in the first quarter.

That finished an impressive eight-play, 85-yard drive. And Scott ran for 57 of those yards. He got the chance because Hunt, a 1,000-yard rusher this fall, injured his left ankle on the first drive.

The thing is, Scott kept running and the offensive line kept clearing huge lanes.

He ran harder and with more purpose than at any time this season. Who would have figured him good for 76 yards on only eight carries in the first quarter?

Or 105 yards on 14 carries (7.5 average) in the first half?

Consider: Scott had managed only 163 rushing yards all season.

Meanwhile, the Penn State defense was doing a number on Weatherford and company. The Seminoles managed only 48 yards in the first quarter. And when they did begin to put together a nice drive midway through the second, Alan Zemaitis stepped in front of a Weatherford pass to intercept.

However, two problems quickly undid all of the Penn State good.

Temporarily.

The first was a familiar trouble spot — special teams coverage. Though the Lions controlled both sides of the ball in the first half, Seminoles’ dynamite returner Willie Reid took a punt back 87 yards for a touchdown 4:09 before halftime to tie it, 7-7.

It was Reid’s third touchdown return this season. And it broke an Orange Bowl record set back in 1953.

Then, after the Lions went nowhere and punted, Weatherford threw a swing pass to tailback Lorenzo Booker who broke through a pile of would-be PSU tacklers and went 57 yards for the go-ahead score.

One punt return. One offensive play.

Thirteen points in less than 1:30.

And yet there were more fireworks to come.

After the Penn State defense held near the goal line (defensive tackle Scott Paxson nearly had a safety) the Lions took over on the FSU 40 with 17 seconds left before halftime.

A sideline pass to Jordan Norwood picked up 16 yards.

Then, Robinson threw long to the right. Senior Ethan Kilmer grabbed the pass while falling down in the end zone, cradling the ball in his lap for the touchdown.