Buying tickets and ordering T-shirts are on East High School football backers’ to-do list for today.
Tickets went on sale Monday, when 160 were purchased locally during a two-hour lunchtime to Saturday’s 5A championship game between the Columbus East Olympians and the Westfield Shamrocks, assistant athletic director Tyler Davis said.
Ticket-buying interest was high despite students being out of class for the week-long Thanksgiving break, Davis said.
Davis was parked just inside the main entrance of Columbus East, where walk-up customers came in between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday.
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Resident Tammy Claycamp walked away with 22 tickets after spending $330 for herself, friends and family.
Her son, senior offensive lineman Kobbe Claycamp, is making a second trip to Lucas Oil Stadium for the state championship. He was on the team three years ago as a freshman when East beat Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger 28-27 to win the Class 4A title.
“This is very special for him,” Tammy Claycamp said. “He’s very excited for this.”
April Dougherty, school nurse at East, was also among first-day ticket buyers, purchasing 13 of them.
She was in the Lucas Oil Stadium three years ago for the state championship game and plans to go Saturday with friends and family.
“Everybody’s excited,” Dougherty said.
Columbus East has an allotment of 1,500 tickets available to sell in advance, and Davis said early interest is matching the level of excitement from 2013.
“There’s no better moment than having teams go to semistate and state,” Davis said. “It’s good to see the buzz for the game.”
Local businesses have already begun to display good-will wishes to the team on digital message boards.
Among the first was Putt-Putt Golf of Columbus, 1080 N. Marr Road, which had alternating messages: “Great Job Olympians” and “Go Win State.”
Another local business, meanwhile, quickly geared up for an anticipated rush on fan apparel.
Hoosier Sporting Goods, 611 Washington St., is taking orders through noon today for “Columbus East 2016 State Bound Olympians” shirts on behalf of the Columbus East Quarterback Club.
It also sold fan gear for the 2013 state title game.
The store had about 30 orders come in Monday morning, a figure that was expected to rise, said Wiley Umphress, a Hoosier Sporting Goods employee.
Orders must be placed on the store’s website.
By today’s deadline, “that website will be full of orders,” Umphress predicted.
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Buying advance tickets
Tickets to Saturday’s Class 5A state championship football game between Columbus East and Westfield can be purchased at the following times:
- 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, Wednesday, Friday inside the main entrance of Columbus East High School, 230 S. Marr Road.
- 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday before the Brownstown Central at Columbus East girls basketball game.
- 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday before the Franklin Central at Columbus East girls basketball game.
Cost: $15 for all students and adults (children who are not school-age are admitted free). Columb East gets to keep $1 of advance ticket sold.
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Hoosier Sporting Goods is taking orders through noon today for “Columbus East 2016 State Bound Olympians” shirts, selling them on behalf of the Columbus East Quarterback Club.
Place orders for T-shirts or sweatshirts store’s website. Visit hsg.tuosystems.com/stores/ceqbclub
Buyers can choose from cotton short-sleeve T-shirts, $15 to $18.75; long-sleeve cotton shirts, $19 to $22.75; cotton-poly fleece crewneck shirts, $24 to $27.75; or heavy-blend hooded sweatshirts, $30 to $33.75.
Orders can be picked up 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Hoosier Sporting Goods, , 611 Washington St.
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