Photo by Kristin Mazgaj Wheeling Central’s Braden McWreath outruns a Shadyside defender during a game earlier this season.

WEST LIBERTY — When Justin Kropka took over the Martins Ferry football program earlier this year his main hope, and focus, was to try and get the Purple Riders’ program turned around and headed in the right direction within a few years.

Little did he know it wouldn’t take his team long to buy in to what he and his coaching staff were trying to institute and that his team might be playing an actual important game eight weeks into the 2022 season.

Sitting at 3-4 on the season, Ferry will make the trip up the hill to West Liberty University Friday night at 7 p.m. when the Purple Riders will be greeted by powerful, unbeaten, Wheeling Central (5-0). Coach Mike Young’s Maroon Knights are currently second in the latest West Virginia Class A playoff chase while Ferry is No. 17 in Region 23.

“We have gotten better every week,” Kropka admitted. “And I think we shocked some people a couple weeks ago when we were in a dogfight with Cambridge. I can just see these kids getting better and better and their attitudes have been amazing, especially this senior class.

“It could have been real easy for them to just go through the motions after losing a couple in a row, especially with how beat up we have been, but that wasn’t the road these kids chose. I honestly wish we weren’t so beat up, but we played a lot of Division IV teams in a row and it is starting to catch up with us a little bit. Every two-way kid we have is beat up and we are really limping into the last part of the season.

“I would love to see what might happen if we had some more bullets in the gun.”

The Purple Riders are coming off a hard-fought, 26-21, victory over Indian Creek last week while Central made the five-hour trip into West Virginia and destroyed Mount View by a 53-8 margin. The Maroon Knights actually had a 47-0 lead after a quarter and the teams finished the game playing three three-minute frames the remainder of the night.

Ayden Ludolph leads the Martins Ferry offense under center but has been hobbled and literally playing on one leg for multiple weeks. Ludolph threw for 102 yards last week with Baron Lucey also seeing time at quarterback. Lucey had a 74-yard touchdown run last week and also a 60-yard touchdown pass to Trv’n Williams in the win. Williams scored the game-winning touchdown on a 14-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Defensively the Riders will have to shore things up to stop the vaunted Wheeling Central rushing attack. Ferry has played four teams with winning records, all losses, and have surrendered 174 total points in those games.

“Martins Ferry is probably one of the most improved teams in the entire Valley,” Young said. “They play some nice football and Coach Kropka and his staff have them headed in the right direction. Their offense is well-balanced, they have a lot of team speed and they are tough on defnese.”

Senior Lorenzo Ferrera and freshman Isaac Martin each scored a pair of touchdowns last week as five Maroon Knights recorded rushing touchdowns in all. Ferrera and classmate Riley Watkins form a dynamic one-two punch out of the backfield for Central. Senior Payton Hildebrand doesn’t need to throw the ball much but finished with 87 yards and a touchdown last week and has formed a good combo with sophomore Braden McWreath.

The Wheeling Central defense limited Mount View to just 141 yards last week, only one yard rushing. The Knights’ offense has outscored their opponents by a whopping 210-63 margin.

“We have seen film on them and they are a typical Wheeling Central football team, they do what they do and they normally do it well. They have lightning-fast kids, excellent skill and a lot of talent. I could honestly go on and on about them. They are a team that I have clashed with many times as both a player and coach.”

Young says he is proud of his team and the direction they are headed in.

“Last week was a long trip, but we turned it into something nice,” Young commented. “We got out of the gates early down there and took care of business. I am proud of these kids and where they are, but there is still plenty of work to do to get better.

“Our goal, as always is the post-season, both getting there and having the ability to make some noise. Expectations are as high as ever, but I would rather have that than to not have them at all. This is another great group of kids and I love our senior leadership. It’s all about development and I can see that in what Coach Kropka is doing to resurrect the Martins Ferry program as well.”

Wheeling Central recorded a 47-6 victory in last year’s meeting in Martins Ferry.