Penn State football's game at Maryland was a homecoming for several Nittany Lions

COLLEGE PARK — Penn State and Maryland are located a little more than three hours from one another.

There’s overlap between the players who play for the Terrapins and Nittany Lions who are from the state of Maryland and the surrounding area. Heading into the game, senior defensive tackle Derrick Tangelo — a Gaithersburg, Md., native — talked to his fellow locals on the team about how life comes full circle. Tangelo, a senior, played his first recreational league football championship at Maryland.

“I probably had about 17 (tickets), and I needed 50,” Tangelo said.

He showed up in a big way in front of friends and family. The senior had four tackles and a sack against Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa in Penn State’s 31-14 victory Saturday. Outside linebacker Curtis Jacobs, a Glen Burnie, Md., native, had four tackles.

Cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields also felt the excitement of playing against Maryland. He grew up in Upper Marlboro, Md., and played high school football at Riverdale Baptist. Fields finished with three tackles Saturday and saw his defensive mates hold a team he’s known since his youth football days to 14 points.

It made it even sweeter to see family members he hasn’t seen in awhile.

“It’s a tough opponent. I’m happy we got the win,” Castro-Fields said. “To come home and see all of my family — I haven’t seen my grandmother in four months. To be able to see her yesterday, it made my whole entire year.”

The Nittany Lions entered the game with full focus on the Terps. They were both sitting at 5-3, and the teams had a ton of familiarity with one another, all of the way to James Franklin and Mike Locksley. Penn State has 21 players who either played high school football in Maryland or are from the state. Even the players who weren’t from Maryland understood the importance of the game.

Running back Noah Cain, a Florida native, wanted to fight harder for the Marylanders on the team. Cain finished the game with 10 carries for 35 rushing yards.

“A lot of this team is from the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia) — they were talking about it all week,” Cain said. “We had a lot of guys excited, a lot their family was here. It was just a big momentum win for Penn State and even these guys from the DMV. Just to have those bragging rights and to have this big win on the road is a great feeling and a great win for these guys in this area.”

Within the matchup, there was pushing and shoving — players jawing off to the sidelines and even Tagovailoa took a shot on the sidelines from a Penn State player who wasn’t even in the game. It seemed as if the frustrations from Penn State’s 35-19 loss to Maryland at Beaver Stadium last season — nearly a year to the day — had boiled over in Maryland on Saturday.

This time, the Nittany Lions quelled their emotions and formed a weapon against their Maryland foes in the form of defensive play. Castro-Fields, a senior, now gets to walk off of Capital One Field with a win — the last of his career against the team based in his home of Prince George’s County.

“(Rakim) Jarrett is a great receiver, three (Tagovailoa) is a great quarterback,” Castro-Fields said. “We just wanted to challenge them. I just pressed as much as I could and just being in their face and using our length and things like that. They were a tough group for sure.”