This hasn't been an easy season for the North Catholic Trojans and no player has exemplified that more than sophomore running back Julian Durden.

The season started with back-to-back road games against two of Class A's top teams -- Serra Catholic and Laurel -- and then Eastern Conference play opened against perennial conference power Springdale.

Both the Trojans and Durden have been dealing with the adversity quite nicely, thank you.

After dropping those first two non-conference games, the Men of Troy Hill rebounded just in time for conference play against Springdale. North Catholic reeled off four consecutive wins to improve their record to 4-2 overall and 4-0 in the Eastern Conference and are now the Post-Gazette's fourth-ranked Class A team.

Durden, a smallish running back who packs a punch at 5 feet 6 and 155 pounds, has learned to gain the tough yards this season. And there have been plenty of those.

"I think those first two games [against Serra and Laurel] helped us get ready for our first conference game," Trojans coach Bob Ravenstahl said. "We knew they were tough opponents and playing stiff competition gets you ready."

It certainly helped get Durden ready. He saw some playing time last season at running back but most of the carries went to Matt Fedzen, now a senior tailback. Fedzen is still an important part of the offense, catching passes out of the backfield and making tacklers miss on the outside, but it has been Durden who leads the team in rushing and who has really sparked the Trojans offense.

"[Durden] is definitely more prepared this year," Ravenstahl said. "Last year he had a tendency to bounce everything outside. This year he has been sticking his nose in there and holding the ball a little bit better.

"He is getting the tough yards. He has a long way to go but he has already come a long way."

Durden is just another strong sophomore running back in what looks to be one of the best classes for the position in a long time. Class AAAA has Central Catholic's Damian Jones-Moore, Class AAA has Hopewell's Rushel Shell, Class AA has Charleroi's Quentin Briggs and now Class A has Durden.

As a freshman Durden rushed for nearly 500 yards.

"I played him a lot last year and we knew he was a special young man," Ravenstahl said.

"He gives us some flexibility that we probably didn't have before. Fedzen is a good back, too, and we are putting them both back there, it is a combo deal. They are both good backs and good ballplayers."

Before the season, Ravenstahl offered this take on his up-and-coming running back.

"We have some pretty good backs this year with Fedzen and this young kid, too, Julian Durden," Ravenstahl said.

"He is very talented and maybe one of the best -- if not the best -- I have seen at North Catholic."

So far, this sophomore has proven Ravenstahl right.

In an important game after an 0-2 start, Durden topped 100 yards against a tough Springdale defense. In a back-and-forth game against a pesky Brentwood team in the fourth week of the season, Durden put his team back on top 25-22 with a 15-yard touchdown run late in the game. The Trojans hung on to win, 31-22.

A week later against Leechburg Durden put the game out of a reach in a hurry, ripping off touchdown runs of 75, 42 and 30 yards. Against Wilkinsburg this past Saturday Durden and Fedzen both ran for three scores a piece.

"Julian is getting better every game," Ravenstahl said. "He does some amazing things for a young man. He is a pretty low-key kid. He keeps a good attitude."

After seeing him some last season and now during his breakout season, opposing defenses are taking notice. The spread-out Trojans offense does not allow for a defense to key on one guy as Fedzen, Durden or junior three-year starting quarterback Martin Long can all make things happen on offense.

"We run a wide-open offense and we try to tweak things every week," Ravenstahl said.

"Every game this year some defense did something different. They are all trying different stuff. But once we get adjusted to it, we are usually able to do what we have to do."

The next defense that has the task of trying to shut down the Trojans offense is Riverview (3-3, 3-1). North Catholic will play host to the Raiders tomorrow night at J.C. Stone Field.

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