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MARTINS FERRY -- It's homecoming week at the Dave Bruney Football Complex.
No, not that homecoming. It will be celebrated next week.
A literal homecoming that only occurs during odd years will unfold Friday night when Purple Rider product Justin Kropka returns with his Harrison Central Huskies to take on his alma mater and mentor in their annual Buckeye 8 encounter.
Though the game will be played between the lines, starting at 7 p.m., Kropka finds the toughest part to be the 90 minutes preceding kickoff.
"It's always special to go home and see people I've not seen in years," Kropka said. "It's important to be able to go down there and see so many people who meant so much to me as a kid. It's just great."
Taking the centimental side of the equation out of it, both the Purple Riders and Huskies are in dire need of a victory. Martins Ferry has dropped three straight since its opening night win against Buckeye Local. The Huskies, meanwhile, gained their only win of the season in Week 2 against Cleveland Rhodes.
"We need a win badly every week," Martins Ferry head coach Dave Bruney said. "Whether we're 4-0, 0-4 or whatever, our emphasis or approach doesn't change week to week. We prepare the same way and the emphasis stays the same. We're trying to get better from week to week."
Kropka, meanwhile, pointed out that this upcoming meeting between the Riders and Huskies is one of the few times in the series' still relatively brief history that both teams are under the .500 mark.
"This game has been exciting because, historically, it's between two teams that have either been undefeated or have just one loss at this point," Kropka said. "I see two teams teetering, but they're playing hard. One teams' (losing) streak is going to end."
Whose streak ends is yet to be determined and many factors could play a role. For instance, Martins Ferry has been focused on taking care of the ball after turning it over 13 times in its games against Linsly and Union Local. Harrison Central, meanwhile, has been trying to overcome a rash of injuries that has caused limited practice and participation numbers.
"Without question, we saw some improvement from Week 3 to last week," Bruney said. "We hope to use that as a positive. Our kids played probably their best football game of the season (against St. Clairsville), and we hope that continues."
The Riders -- who had just one giveaway against the Red Devils -- had a pair of 14-play touchdown drives against the Red Devils.
"It's tough to put those kinds of drives together in high school football," Bruney admitted. "And we had two."
For Ferry, it starts with senior Dalton Hoover on both sides of the ball. The Northern Illinois wrestling commit has rushed for 434 yards and five touchdowns on 90 carries.
The passing game has been a work in progress. Sophomore quarterback Jacob Probst has completed 30-of-71 passes for 369 yards. He's yet to throw a touchdown and has been picked off five times. Cory Bennett is another key component for the Purple Riders' offense as both a pass catcher and runner.
"We have to keep them from getting their running game started, which is easier said than done," Kropka said. "Once they get that running game going, it opens up the passing game."
Harrison Central, meanwhile, is without senior quarterback Wyatt Elias. Because of an injury to his throwing hand, he's actually shifted to fullback. DeJuan Caldwell has taken over the reins of the Harrison offense after starting the season at wide receiver.
One constant for the Huskies has been junior speedster Tyler West. The talented running back has already accumulated 619 yards and scored seven touchdowns.
"No question Harrison has big-play capability with West," Bruney said. "He's a good back who runs hard. The quarterback is a good skill player who can run and throw. That makes West a little bit harder to defend."
Kropka believes knowing where Hoover, who is averaging upwards of 15 tackles a game from his linebacker post, is at all times will be important for his offense.
"They try to funnel everything into Dalton, which is a wise move on their part," Kropka said. "It'll be a chess match as we try to find different ways to get Tyler and the rest of our guys some space to work."