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Courtesy Photo
After the Steelers beat the Cardinals, 27-23, at the Super Bowl on Feb. 1, former Frederick Cadet Peter Malamet got his hands on the coveted Lombardi Trophy. Purchase this photo |
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As Ben Roethlisberger directed the Steelers on their late fourth-quarter, 78-yard touchdown drive that gave them a 27-23 win over Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII, Frederick 's Peter Malamet stood on the Pittsburgh sideline knowing the quarterback would get the job done.Roethlisberger threw a game-winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who made an amazing, toe-tapping, game-winning touchdown catch on the sideline. "I thought we were going to win because Ben was having a good game and when he has a good game he usually comes through in the clutch," Malamet said in a phone interview this week. "Once we got inside the 30, I knew we had the game won." Malamet, 21, spent the season with the Steelers as a student athletic trainer from Duquesne University. As a part of his service to the Steelers, he was on the sideline for all of their playoff games, including their thrilling win over the Cardinals in the Super Bowl on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla. "It was awesome," Malamet said. "I never thought in a million years I would be on the sidelines at a Super Bowl. It was really unreal." Malamet -- whose internship with the team ends this week -- knew he was fortunate to accompany the Steelers to the biggest football game in the world. All of the student trainers traveled with the team throughout the entire postseason. "Dan Rooney is awesome," he said of the team owner. "They didn't have to take interns to any of the playoff games and they took us to the Super Bowl." Malamet spent the whole week with the team in Tampa and remembers walking up and down the stadium on media day and seeing famous reporters he had seen on television. The team practiced as the University of South Florida on Wednesday through Friday that week, and the Steelers tried to keep it as normal as possible. But when the team got on the bus to go to the Super Bowl, he knew it was anything but a normal game. "I thought this is the Super Bowl," he said. "I didn't really realize how big it was until game time." Malamet was also on the sideline when the Steelers beat the Ravens 23-14 in the AFC title game in Pittsburgh. That was a little rough for Malamet, a big Ravens fan. "I hated not to be able to root for Baltimore," he said. "But I was ecstatic Pittsburgh won because I would be going to the Super Bowl." He doesn't think he will get a Super Bowl ring, but hopes to get some type of jewelry, like a watch, from the Steelers. This week, he has been working at the Pittsburgh training facility, mainly going over records of college players who were involved in last week's NFL Combine. He said he came across the name of Tony Fiammetta, the former Walkersville and Syracuse University player who is rated the top fullback in the draft. "That raised my eyebrows," Malamet said. Malamet will graduate in May and plans to return to school next year as a graduate assistant. He would like to enter medical school and one day work with a sports team. But his year of working for the Steelers is over and it's one he will never forget. "They gave me so much," he said.
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