On the night of October 22nd, fireworks soared over the adoring gaze of 107,280 fans packed into Beaver Stadium, and a miraculous victory would be witnessed by all.

In an epic fight that defied all expectations, the Penn State Nittany Lions put an end to a run of dominance by the Ohio State Buckeyes, defeating them 24-21. Penn State was considered the 20-point underdog. We were unranked. We were counted out as a team that might put up a few points on the board, but would probably roll over and die by halftime. Desmond Howard on ESPN's College GameDay predicted, "Big white out for Penn State, but Ohio State wins by at least 17 points." Not quite, Desmond. Not quite. That night, David slew Goliath.

But it's bigger than just the yards ran, the catches made, the blocks hit, and the points scored. It's bigger than the gridiron entirely, bigger than even who we played. It doesn't matter so much who the opposing team was. What's amazing about it all is who we are as a community, how much character our players have shown, and how steep of odds they were able to overcome. What do I mean by that? Let me explain.

I was born and raised in Central Pennsylvania (and proud of it). When I was little, I said I was gonna grow up and be quarterback for the Nittany Lions (yeah, didn't quite make it that far). When my family wanted to go out and do something nice - a good dinner, some shopping, a movie - we'd come to State College. We'd come to see football games in the fall, to watch the basketball teams in the winter, to see concerts in the spring, and to watch fireworks in the summer. Penn State and Happy Valley have always been part of my life, as it has been for so many thousands of people.

And then, the fall of 2011 came, and with it came a knife to our hearts. The scandal that shook this place to its core hit home with every last one of us. My house was silent that day when we learned what had happened. We felt so many things... anger, frustration, grief, helplessness, sorrow for the victims, horror at the whole situation, and then the weight of the world coming down upon us as the nation collectively cast its stones at our entire community. To many, this community was dead, or at least would die soon.

They were wrong.

As football captain Michael Mauti said in 2012, “This program was not built by one man, and it sure as hell won’t be torn down by one man.” We picked ourselves up, committed to ensuring the wrongs that had been done by that monster would never happen again under our collective watch, and committed to moving forward.

It's been a long process, not just for the team, but for all of us. That's the thing that's difficult to explain - in many ways, our team and our community are coterminous. We stand together. I think many college towns and communities are very similar, but something about ours... something about the crucible we have gone through sets us apart. As the team endures the difficulty of sanctions - being punished for something they as players didn't commit - we as a community have dealt with the ridicule and cruel jokes of others - a punishment for something we as devotees of our shared home didn't commit. We bore this weight together for nearly five years now. When the time came for me to become the first member of my family to go to college, that weight didn't stop me from applying to one place and one place only.

So here I am and here we all are in the fall of 2016. I am a senior who has been given the world by this place and is but a few credits and a thesis away from two degrees and an honors medal. We are a community who has seen highs and lows, promising victories and crushing defeats. Some outside Happy Valley still said that we'll never rise back to what we once were. But many of us, though, we never gave up on that. What happened under the lights in Beaver Stadium, down there on that field, what proof that, yes, Penn State still stands as resilient as ever. We will not fade and we will not blow away into the distant wind. With our united hope, spirit, and grit, we can do anything - even bring down a mighty empire.

Don't get me wrong, we're not a perfect community. There will be times when we celebrate too hard, when we don't quite keep ourselves in line (much as some of my fellow students did following the game when they gathered in the Beaver Canyon and tore down light poles), and we will admonish ourselves to do better. That's who we are - we aspire perpetually to be better, to be a greater example. When one of us goes astray, the rest of us will pull them back by their ear and set them straight. That's what a community with integrity will do. Penn State still has work to do moving forward. But, by God, we will rise to the might and splendor that we were before. With all 107,280 present in that immense cradle of Pennsylvania steel that night as my witness, I declare we will stand with our heads held high and our hearts full of light.

Yes, you may be right when you say that it's just a football team, it's just a school. You may be correct from your perspective. But to us, it is our tradition, our background, and our pride. It is our family and the cord that binds us all together. Indeed, it it who we are.