MARTINS FERRY — The 2020 high school football season was already been filled with adversity and unknowns due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Martins Ferry had to endure a couple more over the weekend.

The Purple Riders, who had rolled with all of the every-changing situations it was presented with during the preseason, overcame a couple more before picking up a hard-earned, 22-16, victory over Ohio 7 rival Shadyside on Saturday afternoon at sun-splashed Purple Rider Stadium inside the Dave Bruney Football Complex. The contest kicked off Friday night but was delayed and eventually postponed with 5:31 left in the opening quarter due to inclement weather conditions.

The win, the Martins Ferry’s 714th all-time, came at a cost. First-year starting quarterback Logan Smith went down with a right (throwing) shoulder injury after scoring on a 11-yard keeper around right end late in the first quarter. That gave the hosts a 14-0 advantage after the PAT kick was blocked with 2-minutes, 58-seconds left on the clock.

Yoder said it was too early to speculate on Smith’s injury. The four-year starter at free safety spent the remainder of the game with his right arm in a sling.

“You couldn’t throw more stuff at us,” Yoder said in reference to all the circumstances surrounding this season. “And to top it off, we played one of the best teams, I feel, in the Ohio Valley. They’ve got three or four athletes that are just as good as anyone in the valley.

“We’re ecstatic. We happy,” he noted.

Martins Ferry had taken an 8-0 lead Friday night when Evan Carpenter leapt into the end zone from a yard out to cap an 8-play, 80-yard march. Following an offsides penalty on the Tigers, the Purple Riders elected to go for two and Trevor Hanson swept around his left end for the PAT points.

Following Smith’s aforementioned score, Shadyside took advantage of the lone miscue by backup quarterback Jack Weir, a 6-0, 150-pound transfer from Linsly last year, when Rhys Francis intercepted Weir’s first pass at the Martins Ferry 32.

Five plays later, all-Ohio tailback Wyatt Reiman went around his left end from 13 yards out. Angel Velasquez split the uprights for a 14-7 count.

With the momentum on its Shadyside, the Tigers defense stepped up and forced a three-and-out and Martins Ferry punt. However, the kick was mishandled as J.T. Hill pounced on it at the hosts’ 37-yard line.

“We held them out of the end zone, but then we fumbled the punt,” veteran Shadyside head coach Mark Holenka said. “If we catch that punt, I don’t know where we dropped it at, we had just scored and now we would’ve had the ball again with a short field. You can’t do those type of things against teams that are pretty darned good.”

Martins Ferry drove to the Shadyside 5, but Hanson was brought down short of the first-down marker on back-to-back carries by Ryan Florence and Andrew Brown on third and fourth downs with a yard to go each time.

Although the Purple Riders weren’t able to put the ball in the end zone, they didn’t leave the Tigers with very good field position. That came into play when junior Coltin Larkins broke through and sacked Francis in the end zone for a safety. That bumped the margin to 16-7 with 35.8 ticks left on the third-quarter clock.

The Purple Riders were unable to generate any offensive firepower following the free kick and the Tigers took over deep in Martins Ferry territory at the 27 following a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct infraction against the hosts on the punt return.

“They (the officials) said he blocked it. We’re saying he didn’t,” Holenka said of the play. “You make your breaks and we didn’t do a very good job of protecting our quarterback at times. We need to do a better job of getting our defense off the field at times.”

Six plays picked up a first down but left the visitors with a third-and-8 from the 14. Francis found Mason VanNest for six stripes but it wasn’t enough to move the sticks. Velasquez was good from 25 yards out to make it 16-10 at the 6:23 mark of the fourth quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Shadyside was in punt formation with Francis, the backup punter lined up in the fourth-and-5 situation. Under pressure from Carpenter to his left, the ball barely went off Francis’s foot as Carpenter crashed into him. A yellow flag came flying in for running into the kicker. However, after some consultation between the officials, it was ruled Carpenter tipped the ball, giving Martins Ferry possession at the Tigers’ 21.

It only took five plays — all runs — to reach the end zone as senior Chase Goff covered the last 5. The two-point pass failed as the margin was 22-10 with 7:04 left to play.

Shadyside stormed right back as Francis found Mason VanNest from 18 yards out on a fourth-down play. The connection capped an 11-play, 53-yard drive. A bad snap threw the timing off for the all-important PAT kick and it was blocked.

The Tigers defense was again came up big, forcing a three-and-out and returning the ball to the offense with 2:39 showing on the clock.

On third-and-7, Francis found Reiman behind the defense down the left sidelines. Reiman hauled the ball in and scampered into the end zone with 1:42 left to play. The celebration was quickly tempered as a yellow flag for holding lay on the ground. Two incompletions turned the ball over on downs.

“Our whole team … I can’t point out one guy,” Yoder said of his team’s effort on defense, especially in the second half when the Tigers trimmed the deficit to 22-16.

Weir didn’t light up the stat book, but he didn’t do anything to put his team in harm, either, after that fateful first pass. He was 6-for-11 for 37 yards.

“I couldn’t be more proud,” Yoder said of Weir’s performance. “But, there was no doubt in my mind that he could do the job. He’s been practicing with the ones (first unit). He’s been rotating in with Logan. He did a great job. He managed the game well and was ready to play when his number was called.

“We had several guys step up today that probably didn’t think their names would be called,” he added.