Defense puts Affton back in the playoffs

Paul Kopsky/STLtoday Prep Sports | Affton's Markus Golden (center) dances his way through the mud and a pile of St. Mary's defenders during the second quarter Thursday at Affton.

AFFTON — The Affton football team is going back to the Class 4 playoffs, thanks to a stingy and opportunistic Cougars defense that withstood rain, mud and visiting St. Mary’s on Thursday night.

Affton’s defense scored on a safety and made a third-quarter touchdown run stand up by grabbing seven turnovers in an 8-0 victory in a Class 4 District 3 game that secured a playoff spot.

“The defense played awesome,” said linebacker/running back Markus Golden. “We had a lot of help. A lot of players stepped it up. We were in the mud, but we knew we had to work hard. Our defensive line really stepped up.”

The No. 6 team in the Post-Dispatch small-schools rankings, Affton (8-2) sealed the victory when Adam Leathers intercepted a desperation pass as time expired for the 11th turnover of the night between the teams.

“Obviously on a night like tonight it’s hard to do anything on offense,” Affton coach Dan Oliver said, “so our defense kept us there and kept us in the ballgame.”

As the runner-up in Class 4 District 3 behind Ladue, which defeated both Affton and St. Mary’s (5-5) in district play, Affton will play District 4 winner Vashon (5-3) on Wednesday in the regional round of the playoffs.

“They are a good defense,” St. Mary’s coach Jake Parent said, “but the conditions provided some problems (with moving the ball) and we didn’t do enough to score, obviously.”

The only score of the opening half was a safety by Affton’s defense with 7 minutes, 39 seconds left in the second quarter when linebacker Dominique Preston stuffed an option play in the end zone.

Affton scored the only touchdown of the night when Golden broke through the defense for a 12-yard run with 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Golden, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound senior who entered the game with 2,024 yards rushing and 26 touchdowns, finished with 140 yards rushing and a touchdown on 38 carries.

The Affton defense limited St. Mary’s to 133 yards of offense, including just 26 passing yards.