RUMFORD — No high school football player in his right mind would have signed up for Matt Duka’s job in August.

Duka, a hard-nosed wrestler and multi-year defensive standout for the Mountain Valley High School football team, began the year as the Falcons’ featured running back.

It was the high school gridiron equivalent of volunteering to walk on water.

Mountain Valley merely had to replace Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist Justin Staires, the most celebrated player in school history.

And Staires’ cousin, Matt Laubauskas, a fullback with a grown man’s body fit for dragging four or five boys into the end zone.

And John Gorham, an oft-forgotten halfback who would have been the headliner for most teams.

And Taylor Bradley, the first back off the bench in Mountain Valley’s parade of routs on its way to a state championship. Bradley moved to Skowhegan this year and emerged as a 1,000-yard runner for a Class A team.

You want to compete with that?

“Obviously you don’t replace guys like Justin Staires and Matt Laubauskas,” Duka said. “I’m just trying to be myself and do the best I can to keep the tradition going.”

In a year when the supporting cast has resembled a MASH unit and the Falcons understandably have struggled to back up last year’s season of a lifetime, the understudy has delivered.

Duka enters tonight’s Western Class B semifinal game at York needing only 54 yards to etch his name on a storied list of 1,000-yard runners at Mountain Valley.

He ranked No. 4 in the Campbell Conference during the regular season, outgaining conference all-star locks Tom Foden of Cape Elizabeth and Caleb Bowden of Falmouth.

“He’s just tough,” Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward said of Duka, who averaged eight yards per carry while providing pop defensively.

Every runner etched in Mountain Valley lore has the moment when he plants his footprints into the cement, so to speak.

For Duka, those stripes were earned in a September win at Wells.

Unbeaten, untested and unscored upon through two weeks, Mountain Valley hit the road as a heavy favorite that Friday night. But Duka twisted his ankle on a first-quarter special teams play and quickly joined wounded teammates Cam Kaubris and Chris Day on the sideline.

Duka’s absence deflated the Falcons on both sides of the line of scrimmage, and Mountain Valley trailed 20-12 at the half before Duka was able to carry the ball on a limited basis.

His fourth-quarter touchdown put Mountain Valley over the top in a 27-20 victory that ended with a goal-line stand.

“We talked about holding him out until next week,” Aylward said, “but I turned to him in the third quarter and said there was pretty much no tomorrow in that situation.”

With lost-time maladies haunting Mountain Valley everywhere from quarterback to the secondary to its two-way line, Duka has been a mainstay ever since.

Mountain Valley shut out five of its first six opponents before season-ending losses to York (33-14) and Cape Elizabeth (34-0) saddled the Falcons with the No. 3 playoff seed.

“Injuries have been a big part of our team, as it turned out,” Duka said. “We’re just trying to do everything we can to overcome it right now.”

Despite being blanked for the first time in school history last week, the Falcons felt confident that they turned a corner against undefeated Cape.

“I think we played a lot harder than the week before,” Duka said. “We’re ready to give (York) a game.”

And compared to the challenge Duka already has embraced with open arms and quick feet, what’s a little road rematch in the playoffs?

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The Falcon’s Matt Duka has had tough shoes to fill after Mountain Valley’s football team lost two of their All-Conference players, Justin Staires and Matt Laubauskas, last year. Duka has stepped up to the challenge and become the team’s lead rusher.