Many await big YSU-OSU showdown
The first student was in line some nine hours before tickets went on sale.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Heather Hrelec is a student at Ohio State University, but that didn’t stop her from getting in line at the Youngstown State University ticket window for the big YSU-OSU football game Sept. 1.
The line was for ID-holding YSU students only, but Heather didn’t mind. She already had her ticket. She was just there to keep her younger brother, Nick, a YSU freshman biology major, company.
YSU put its 500 student tickets for the game on sale at 9 a.m. Monday, and about 200 students were waiting in line when the ticket window opened at Stambaugh Stadium. Each could buy just one ticket.
Emily Wollet of Canfield, the first in line, said she arrived at 11:30 p.m. Sunday to make sure she got her ticket, which cost $65.
It turns out that she could have stayed home and gotten a good night’s sleep. The ticket office still had 50 tickets left around 1 p.m., though there were a number of people in line at that hour, and all tickets were expected to be sold by midafternoon.
There’s no question for whom Hrelec, a sophomore human development and family sciences major at OSU, will be rooting.
An OSU family
Her dad, Nick, Campbell’s fire chief, has always been a Buckeye fan, she said, adding that she has loved OSU “since I was little.”
Older sister Candace is at OSU as well, enrolled in medical school.
Brother Nick is also an OSU fan and will have some divided loyalties during the game.
“I was pretty much going to OSU until the scholarship,” he said, referring to a full-tuition academic scholarship he received to attend YSU.
“I’ll root for YSU. I want them to win, but I want OSU to win too,” he said, expressing concern for OSU’s standing in the polls should it lose the game.
Nick will sit with the YSU section during the game, his sister said, adding that she hasn’t started needling him about the game just yet.
Julie Bush of Poland, a family and consumer service major at YSU, was baby-sitting Monday morning and brought her two young charges with her to stand in line shortly before 9 a.m.
Bush said she goes to all the YSU games and has a friend enrolled at OSU.
Friendly rivalry
That friend attended YSU at one point, but transferred and is excited about Youngstown people coming to Columbus for the game, Bush said, declining to identify him by name.
They’ve only talked a little bit about the game itself so far, she said, adding that the rivalry will probably heat up as game day nears.
“I’ve never been to an OSU game,” she said, predicting that OSU will likely win. “We’re just excited we get to go.”
Lew Devlin of Fifth Avenue, Youngstown, stood out from his fellow students as he waited for the ticket window to open.
He’s a nontraditional student who earned a business administration degree from YSU in 1965. He’s back now working on a degree in fine arts.
“I go to all the games,” Devlin said, adding that he’s never been to Columbus for an OSU game.
He was on the YSU football team for a short time during his earlier undergraduate career, he said, noting that he didn’t last because he was too small.
Devlin said he doesn’t know anyone at OSU, though he’s met a fellow known as Jim Tressel a couple of times. That won’t influence him, however.
“I’ve got to root for YSU,” he said.
gwin@vindy.com