photo by: Joe Lovell

Martins Ferry’s Walkquem Cox runs with the football during the Purple Riders’ week one victory over Expression Prep at home last Friday.

MARTINS FERRY — The Martins Ferry Purple Riders are expecting a bit stiffer of a challenge come Friday.

After breezing through their week one game opponent, Expression Prep, for a 55-0 final score, the Purple Riders are gearing up for a game against Malvern (1-0) inside the Dave Bruney Athletic Complex.

The Hornets, a perennial playoff team in Ohio Division VII, defeated Valley Christian in week one, with running back Julius Gore rushing for two touchdowns in a 16-8 victory.

“Malvern’s obviously been a small school power for a while,” Martins Ferry head coach Justin Kropka said. “And, you know, we knew what we were signing up for when we signed them. It’s going to be a battle. Their kids are used to winning and traditionally they’ve always had a winner, they’ve been in regional finals — they lost last year to a team that played in the state championship game [Hillsdale], on two Hail Marys.

“They’re a good team, they’re well coached, their skill is some of the best we’ll see. They do a lot of things scheme-wise, I think, to give you problems. You gotta be really aware. They take advantage of every mistake. They all get to the ball. They can run it, they can throw it. They’re just a really good high school football team.”

Last week against Expression Prep, Martins Ferry had seven different players get into the end zone, while averaging almost 18 yards per carry in a day where the Purple Riders were firing on all cylinders against an overmatched opponent. Sophomore running back Walkquem Cox ran for two touchdowns, including a 45-yarder, while junior quarterback Colby Kropka notched a passing and a rushing touchdown.

While the Riders were not challenged in their first outing of the year, it was still a buttoned-up, mistake-free performance, something Kropka would like to see continue against Malvern.

“It always comes down to the same things, you know, when you got two teams that are both pretty good football teams, it always comes down to mental mistakes and turnovers,” Kropka said. “Who’s making the right checks and all that stuff, and who’s holding onto the ball, and normally, if you don’t make any mental mistakes and you don’t turn the ball over, you win the game. We’re hoping we have a mature enough team to handle that kind of situation and that kind of game. A lot of these guys played in two playoff games last year, and so I’m hoping we’re mature enough to handle a good game like this.”

Coming off a strong 10-2 season and with good takeaways from the offseason and from week one, Kropka is confident in his team going into an early-season test.

“This team, it kind of started with that first scrimmage against Barnesville,” Kropka said. “We went toe-to-toe with those guys, and that was really a great scrimmage. And that kind of led me to believe we were kind of on the right path, you know, because Barnesville hadn’t lost a regular season game in five years or something crazy. They’re obviously a good well coached team, Blake Allen’s a former assistant of mine, so we have a lot of respect for that program and what they do. And once we handled that scrimmage very well, and then I thought on the road against Harrison, that scrimmage I thought we handled very well — those were much more adverse situations than week one was, so I think we’ve held our own against anybody we’ve stepped on the field with this year, and we’re hoping that continues in week two.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.