Dan Oliver realized he had something special in Markus Golden when he saw him rip the ball from an opponent near the goal line, reverse field and high-tail it nearly 100 yards for a touchdown.

Golden was a freshman at Affton High and his coach began to imagine what the next four years might hold.

But midway through his sophomore season, Golden quit the team. He recalls that his "attitude wasn't right." His football future was in question.

Granted a reprieve by Oliver, Golden returned as a junior and has turned in a two-season stretch on both sides of the ball that would be hard to match.

"I saw I couldn't play football, what I loved the most," Golden said. "My whole family wanted me to play. I wanted to do it for Coach Oliver because he did a lot for me. I knew I had to come back and work hard for him and the team."

Golden, 6 feet 2 and 220 pounds, succeeded and tonight will lead Affton into a Missouri Class 4 playoff game against Vashon at Gateway Tech.

After setting a school record with 161 tackles last season and being named an All-Metro linebacker, he has shattered the school mark for rushing yards as a senior running back with 2,154 yards in 10 games.

Golden rarely leaves the field on offense or defense and has made good on his promise to become a leader after walking away from the game. Oliver said he fulfilled every requirement to return, and then some.

"He came back as a junior and was asked by the seniors to be one of the leaders," Oliver said. "Now if I say something, they do it. And if he says something, they for sure do it. He has as much pull with them as I do."

Golden continues to dominate on defense with 100 tackles, a number that is down, Oliver said, because Affton has controlled time of possession. He has topped 200 yards in six different games and set a school record with 339 against Priory. He has 27 touchdowns.

Affton has thrown only 44 passes all season, yet defenses have struggled to slow Golden and running mate Dominique Preston. Despite the attention, Golden has averaged 7.8 yards a carry.

"Whatever I have to do to get past you, I do it," he said. "Run through you, cut back on you, read my block or sometimes if you go low, I'm going to jump over you."

Golden, whose brother Sherman played at Affton in 2006, added to his repertoire early in the season when he found himself one-on-one with a Windsor defender. Running down the sideline, he hurdled the prospective tackler.

"I didn't even know I was going to do it," he said. "I did it once and after that I thought, I'm going to do it again."

Said Oliver, "He jumped over him and ran another 30, 40 yards. It was like, 'Wow.'"

He repeated the move throughout the season and hurdled a player from Bishop DuBourg for a touchdown two weeks ago.

Golden's offensive exploits have almost overshadowed his defensive work, which he hopes will be his ticket to college. He has talked to someone from Missouri and numerous small schools have expressed interest, but Oliver is confident Golden is Division I quality on defense.

"He's got a real good knack for finding the ball, reading where he needs to be and getting there," he said. "He runs from sideline to sideline and covers the field for us."

Golden's performance has helped transform the Cougars from 4-7 last season to 8-2.

And tonight he expects to see more than 20 family members in the crowd, many of the same people who were instrumental in his return to the field two years ago when football became an uncertainty.

"Football would bring the whole family together, seeing me play," he said. "I've been playing since I was 6, and I can't remember one time my daddy didn't show up at one of my games. My dad and mom told me, 'It's your life. You've been doing this too long.' I never want to see my mom sad. I had to step up."