CLEVELAND — Imagine the excitement of performing one of college football’s greatest traditions in a setting perhaps second only to actually doing it in your home stadium.

What is a special matter for any sousaphone player in the Ohio State University marching band was carried out Saturday by 2004 Jefferson High School graduate Alex Martin, not in the normal setting of Ohio Stadium, but at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The son of Gerald and Sherry Martin, of Jefferson, was one of two sousaphone players to dot the (i) in the band’s famed “Script Ohio” formation as the band performed double “Script Ohio” at halftime of the game between the Buckeyes and the University of Toledo, which OSU won, 38-0.

“It was an awesome experience,” Martin said. “I was a little anxious coming out of the little (o), but it was really amazing to hear the crowd roar when I went out to dot the (i) (on the north side of Browns Stadium).

“I wasn’t that nervous about it. I’d had a little trouble with my hat (which he doffs to complete the dotting) for the first time when we were doing it at another event the other day, but it went well today.”

As it turns out, Martin’s opportunity to carry out the coveted assignment will be the first of two such occasions. It served as a kind of dress rehearsal for a repeat performance next Saturday at Ohio Stadium when Ohio State opens its Big Ten schedule against the University of Illinois.

Still, the opportunity to finally realize a dream he has been working toward for four years was of great significance to Martin, who has already earned his bachelor’s degree in history. He is spending the balance of the fall quarter and football season at Ohio State just so he can complete his career with the band. Then he’ll be heading off for three years of seminary studies in the greater New York City area at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church. After that, he will have a master’s degree and hopes to become an Episcopal priest.

Saturday’s opportunity also gave Martin a hint of what he figures will be truly a monumental experience next week in Columbus.

“Today was nice because this is something I’ve worked for for four years,” he said. “I was more excited today than nervous before the game because I had my whole family here.

“It was very cool. The buildup to the final moments was pretty special. To get to do it at Browns Stadium was really neat. I’ve never been a big Browns fan, but to get to do it in Cleveland was really cool.”

All the while, Martin’s fellow sousaphone player, Katie O’Connor, also a Jefferson graduate, is getting an up-close-and-personal view of what she may be doing in two years. In her second year with the OSU marching band, the 2008 Jefferson alumna is observing Martin’s methods in anticipation of what she hopes will be her own big moment in another two years.

“Alex has been coaching me,” she said. “He’s already been giving me advice. He’s just told me to stick with it.”

“Katie knows what to do and what to expect,” Martin said.

Being in the OSU band is “a big-time commitment,” Martin said. “Practice is from 9 to 5 pretty much every day with some other commitment after that, so it amounts to about a 12-hour day before school starts.”

O’Connor was pumped up about the day at Browns Stadium, too.

“It was totally awesome,” she said. “To have nearly the whole stadium cheering for you was really something.”

As excited as Martin was about his big moment Saturday, he’s looking forward to doing it again in the Horseshoe next Saturday before a crowd that will probably exceed 105,000 people as opposed to the 71,000-plus in attendance at Browns Stadium.

“My family has 35 tickets for next week,” he said. “We’re starting school on Monday, too, so all the students will be there for the game.

“That will really be special.”