WHEELING — Two teams trying to strengthen their playoff positioning in their own respective states meet up Thursday for an evening where the Martins Ferry Purple Riders (6-2) and Wheeling Central Maroon Knights (4-2) will have a monopoly on high school gridiron action.

Martins Ferry is coming off a 36-0 blanking of Cambridge, and are winners of five straight. Against the Bobcats, Purple Riders junior quarterback Colby Kropka threw for three touchdowns- two to Maurice Barnett- and ran for another in what was one of his strongest statistical outings of the year.

“It’s kind of been a progression,” Martins Ferry head coach Justin Kropka said. “We went from having a kid that started four years at quarterback to a kid that was making his first start week one. We knew that Colby could handle th

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