MARTINS FERRY – Every week one opponent is a bit of a mystery, but none more so than the week one opponent of the Martins Ferry Purple Riders, who are set to face Expression Prep from Huntington, W.Va. in their opening outing of the 2025 season.

A prep school known for basketball, Expression Prep will greet the Purple Riders on the gridiron Friday at the Dave Bruney Athletic Complex as a bit of an unknown.

“We had some teams kind of under contract that kind of backed out on us at the last minute,” Martins Ferry head coach Justin Kropka said. “So we needed a home game desperately

“I don’t really know a ton about them. Obviously their basketball programs, one of the top in the country, and I think they assumed that they would maybe have the same immediate success in football that they did

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