UNIVERSITY PARK — His spring began in one of the worst manners possible.

Cole Chiappialle's spring practice season, at least, ended better than he had imagined.

Chiappialle, a walk-on who graduated from Blackhawk last year, was the offensive star Saturday during Penn State's Blue-White game. The running back had two touchdowns and a game-high 80 yards from scrimmage in leading the Blue past the White, 37-0.

“This is a great experience,” Chiappialle said afterward from the Beaver Stadium media room with a horde of writers and TV cameras surrounding him. “Look at all you guys. If I woke up this morning and said everyone was going to be around me, I'd have said, ‘I don't know about that.' ”

The Saturday of Chiappialle's dreams came five weeks after a Sunday of his worst nightmares. Chiappialle's mother, Kim, died unexpectedly March 9.

That was two days into Chiappialle's spring break and eight days before the beginning of spring practice.

“Honestly, spring ball just kept my mind off it,” Chiappialle said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. “But I still think about it every day — when you wake up, when you go to bed, it's something you always think of. It's always going to be there. But spring ball definitely kept my mind off it and kept me focused on schoolwork and football.”

Chiappialle, who spurned smaller schools to walk on at Penn State, said his mother wouldn't have wanted him to mull a leave from school or the football team after her death.

So instead, he chose to work in her honor and play for her in from of the 72,000-plus fans who showed up Saturday.

“It shows how strong of a kid he is,” running back Akeel Lynch said. “We rallied around him, and it's hard what he's been through, so when he was running hard today, I was just so happy for him.”

Despite amassing more than 2,000 yards of offense as a senior at Blackhawk, Chiappialle's appearance on the Blue roster (one made up of the starters) was surprising. Coach James Franklin has said running back is the deepest position on the offense.

Chiappialle had nine carries for 63 yards — including touchdown runs of 1 and 23 yards — and two receptions for 17 yards.

“I'm excited for him, and I'm proud of him,” Franklin said. “He's a guy who came in here and worked extremely hard. Everyone in the organization has tremendous respect for how he carries himself and works.”

“ ‘Chip' is a great guy,” quarterback Christian Hackenberg said. “And he's a fantastic player — just a little undersized, but you saw today, the kid's got great balance, and he's got a lot of power. And he's a guy that we all love and we all rally around.”

Notes: Franklin confirmed redshirt junior guard Anthony Alosi is suspended indefinitely. Alosi last month was charged with simple assault in connection with a Jan. 31 incident. … The first half featured 10 punts — nine before a touchdown was scored. … Captains were linebacker Mike Hull, kicker Sam Ficken and guard Miles Dieffenbach. Dieffenbach, from Fox Chapel, did not play because of injury. … Tackle Andrew Nelson and center Angelo Mangiro also did not play because of presumed injuries. ... Center Wendy Laurent left the game in the second quarter with what appeared to be a knee injury. Franklin, per his policy, did not give any injury details or updates. … The estimated announced crowd was the third largest in Blue-White history.

Chris Adamski is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.

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