Dating Ohio State University’s No. 1 football fan can have its challenges. Jessica Balash has proven she is up to the challenge.

 

She and Coleton Stein met circa. 2012 at Bridgeport High School while he was a member of the Indian football team.

 

“Though he was Ohio State’s biggest fan, he had never been to a game and I always wanted to take him to one,” Balash said.

 

Last year, she and Stein, 2014 and 2015 graduates of BHS, attended the Buckeyes’ vs. Penn State game in Columbus.

 

“Ohio State won by one point and it was awesome! I thought I could never top that,” Balash said.

 

Yet, she has.

 

Perched on the first row between the 40- and 50-yard line, the couple watched their favorite collegiate team win the 2019 Rose Bowl, 28-23 over the Washington Huskies at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif.

 

“People were asking if they could take pictures in our spot and said they wish they had our seats,” Balash said. “We told them we weren’t rich – we had won the tickets in a contest.”

 

The contest which Balash entered – and surprised Stein with over the holidays – was sponsored by the Rose Bowl Parade. She found the opportunity and entered on a whim and was delighted Dec. 19 when she received word she had won prime seating for both the game and Rose Parade, as well $1,000 cash for travel.

 

“We found out in early-December that Ohio State wasn’t going to the national championship, but that they got into the Rose Bowl,” Balash said.

 

Thinking she would love to give Stein game tickets for Christmas, reality soon sunk in. She knew she couldn’t afford them.

 

“I thought there had to be a sweepstakes or something. Radio stations give away tickets all the time, so I went on the internet to look,” she said.

 

Surely enough, there was a contest tab on the Web site of the Rose Parade. Her interest was piqued and she read about the contest.

 

“The theme for this year’s Rose Parade was ‘Melody of Life’ and all you had to do was upload a musically-themed photo to their Web site and leave a comment,” Balash said.

 

A senior interior design major at West Virginia University, she had just the picture to do the trick. In September, she took a trip with Omega Interiors to Kimball Hospitality in Jasper, Indiana.

 

“Kimball does a line of hospitality furniture, but most people know the name from the pianos they used to make,” Balash said. “The last Kimball piano was made in 2002 and right inside the front door of the offices is one of the pianos, signed by everyone who helped make it.”

 

Having played piano since she was in kindergarten, Balash obliged in playing a tune. Someone snapped a picture at her on the piano seat, providing not only the perfect memento for the trip, but also her ticket to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl festivities.

 

Balash entered the contest Dec. 13, just two days under the deadline. She never told anyone about it and really never thought too much about it until, of course, she received the Dec. 19 email, revealing the amazing news that she had won.

 

After going through stages of disbelief and wondering if it was a scam, the couple settled into the reality that they would be going to the Rose Bowl.

 

“We flew out of Bridgeport Dec. 31 to Dulles, then took a straight flight,” Balash said.

 

Being up-close-and-personal for the Rose Parade – from the tiny detail of the petal-made floats to the stride of the Budweiser Clydesdales -  was indeed a thrill, but the game was an absolutely amazing experience, she said.

 

“We were so close to the field and just behind Ohio State,” Balash said. “Coleton literally shouted at two of the players and one of them gave him a fist bump in the air.”

 

Stein wore his Dwayne Haskins jersey, later finding out he had attended the star quarterback’s final Ohio State game.

 

“It was also the last game of Head Coach Urban Meyer, who Coleton loves, so that was a big deal too,” Balash said.

 

On a cold, snowy day in 2018, Stein saw his first Ohio State football game, followed by a warm, sunny day in 2019 for his second – and perhaps even more memorable - experience.

 

One day, Balash hopes to be financially stable enough to purchase plenty of game tickets, but in the meantime, she’ll be watching for every opportunity to be in the stands with the Buckeyes’ No. 1 fan.

 

Stein is a senior at Fairmont State University, where he pursues a degree in business and marketing.