DUBLIN
Eugene Lewis remembers the big catches. The one he had to score the touchdown in the opener against Syracuse last season. The couple he had against Wisconsin in the season finale. Some receivers will tell you they try to forget them all, that it’s better to move on and focus on the next big one, because it can be their biggest and best and most important yet.
But, where’s the fun in that?
Here’s guessing Ireland is always going to hold a special place in the former Wyoming Valley West star’s heart, because this is the place that gave him three more big catches to remember.
This is the place those catches probably gave Penn State a win.
“If we would have lost that game,” Lewis laughed, “it would have felt like a 20-hour ride home. Now, we can go home on this plane and enjoy it.”
Lewis proved to be the difference between winning and losing. That’s a difficult thing to surmise, because there were plenty of Penn State players who wound up having career games Saturday in the stirring 26-24 win over Central Florida in the Croke Park Classic.
Sam Ficken hit four field goals, including the game-winner with no time left. Christian Hackenberg became the first Penn State quarterback to throw for more than 400 yards in a game, and it’s not as if he didn’t have his down moments, too. Defensive tackle Anthony Zettel and end Deion Barnes were nearly constant fixtures early in the Golden Knights backfield. Linebacker Mike Hull played as well as someone possibly could in goal-line situations, twice stopping Central Florida running backs on third down.
As for receivers, freshman DaeSean Hamilton actually had the most surprising day, hauling in 11 catches.
Just think, though, about the second half Lewis had. Five catches. One hundred fifty-four yards. Every one of them bigger, and somehow more impressive, than the next.
“Geno made two or three ridiculous catches out there,” Hackenberg said.
Let’s start with the touchdown, and then we’ll move on to the two catches that actually wound up dwarfing it in importance.
Third-and-17. Less than a minute to go in the third quarter, and Penn State’s offense is moving the wrong direction. Central Florida’s backup quarterback Justin Holman had only moments earlier scored on a 1-yard carry to get his team back within 13-10, and it looked like momentum firmly had settled on the Knights’ sideline.
Then, Lewis took it back.
He made a double move, a slight hitch and turn toward the quarterback that Hackenberg helped sell as a route with a convincing pump fake. Then Lewis was gone. Gone up the seam, without a defender behind him or in front of him. The one assigned to him bit on the fake, and all Hackenberg had to do was get the ball close.
Lewis ran under it like a center fielder, hauled it in, then sprinted to the end zone for a 79-yard score and a 20-10 lead.
“That’s something I’ll remember the rest of my life,” Lewis said.
He wasn’t done making the Golden Knights want to forget, though.
Holman answered Lewis’ touchdown with a 10-yard strike of his own to Josh Reese. He and the Knights weren’t going away, by a long shot. But as the fourth quarter progressed, the Penn State offense began to sputter. Jordan Ozerities intercepted a pass for Central Florida that Hackenberg never should have thrown. Then true freshman Curtis Godwin fumbled a slip screen pass. Things weren’t going Penn State’s way.
Third-and-9. Ball at their own 36 and facing another punt. Hackenberg drops back and notices Lewis had a step on Central Florida defensive back Clayton Geathers. He lofted the ball Lewis’ way, a bit behind the 6-foot-1 sophomore. Within range of a catch, for sure. But also within range on an interception, as well.
Their hands both touched the ball. The leaping Lewis’ first, then Geathers, somehow bumping it back into the air after he pushed Lewis trying to break the whole thing up.
Somehow, Lewis maintained eye contact with the ball as he fell awkwardly backward and to the ground. As his back made contact with the lush Croke Park turf, his hands and the ball met again. Gain of 49. First down.
Ficken would hit a field goal to put Penn State back up by six.
“When I was running, the ball was a little bit behind me, so I knew I had to go up and make a play,” Lewis said. “When I went up to grab it, the guy kind of tipped it out of my hands. I just kept my concentration and just grabbed it out of the air.
“It was a big play. Coach Franklin came down the sideline and gave me a high-five, and we went from there.”
That’s the thing. Central Florida kept going. It took the lead on the next drive, with Holman sprinting in from 6 yards out after completing a circus 37-yard pass to Josh Reese that had the look of a play destined to be a game-winner. But Penn State still had 1:08 left, and Lewis had one more play left in him.
Second-and-1. Ball on the Central Florida 37. Less than 30 seconds to go.
Time is ticking.
The least visually impressive catch of Lewis’ day was the most important of them all. A hitch route that he caught, made a move and dusted a defender.
By the time someone in a Golden Knights jersey ran him down, he had gone 18 yards, firmly into field goal position at the 19. It wouldn’t be long before Ficken put the ball through the uprights and sent Croke Park into a blue-and-white frenzy.
“I knew we needed about 10 to 15 yards to get ourselves in really good field goal range,” Lewis said. “I knew we had a timeout left. At that point, there was only one defender out there. So in my mind, I’m saying, just get as many yards as I can. I wasn’t too close to the sideline at that point, so I was just trying to get as many yards as I could.”
There will be no more talk about how Penn State can possibly replace Allen Robinson. Not anymore. Coming into Ireland, Penn State’s crop of receivers had 24 catches for 306 yards combined, in their careers. On Saturday, Lewis and Hamilton combined for 21 catches and 351 yards.
But while it’s Hamilton who will get most of the hype, because he looked like Robinson in his debut game, remember what’s most important. Who catches the big passes? Who is making the clutch plays?
Saturday, on a day to remember for Penn State in Ireland, the biggest difference-maker was Eugene Lewis.
(Donnie Collins covers Penn State for The Times-Tribune. Contact him at dcollins@timesshamrock.com and follow him on Twitter @psubst.)