CASTLE ROCK — What does Douglas County High School running back Jose Astorga, ordinarily a quiet, unassuming junior, think he’s doing by turning the big-school postseason into his personal showcase?
“Well, this is playoffs,” the junior said in a sheepish, nearly apologetic tone. “I don’t know. I’m trying not to get too psyched.”
What he’s doing is backing up the confidence of his coach, Jeff Ketron, who handed him the position before the season after assigning incoming senior Ryan Misare primarily to defense to better serve the Huskies’ needs. All Misare did a year ago was surpass 1,900 yards and help the Huskies to the state semifinals.
“We’re a running team and we need a featured back, a guy who’s going to get yardage every play,” Ketron said. “No way we would have done that if we didn’t have absolute confidence in Jose.”
When the Huskies take the field at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for Colorado’s 5A championship at Invesco Field at Mile High against Aurora’s Grandview, the first-year starter will have an opportunity to continue one of the great individual playoff performances in 87 years of schoolboy play in the Rocky Mountains.
All of 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, the muscle-bound but speedy Astorga has run through four postseason teams for 833 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is averaging nearly 9 yards per carry and better than a touchdown every 10 times he touches the football in the playoffs.
No Coloradan in big schools has come close to 1,000 yards rushing in the playoffs, but Astorga is helped by the expansion to a maximum of five postseason games two years ago. Cherry Creek’s Darnell McDonald, generally recognized as the state’s best player since the 1970s, ran for 794 yards and 15 touchdowns in four games in the 1996 playoffs.
Astorga is running ahead of Bo Bolen, Grandview’s 2006 5A rushing champion who has totaled 744 yards and 10 scores in these playoffs and finishes his high school career Saturday on the other side of the field.
Astorga’s rise to stardom is symbolic of Douglas County’s meteoritic jump to a Class 5A power over the past three years in this booming area south of metropolitan Denver. The Huskies were virtually no factor in football for 108 years of their existence but have run up a 35-5 record the past three seasons.
“When he was here as an eighth-grader to where he is now is completely different,” Ketron said. “It’s unbelievable.”
It’s out of character for Astorga to stand ahead of his team, but his numbers are bold. Having piled up 1,214 yards and 10 touchdowns during the regular season, he had an 82-yard run in the fourth quarter in the semifinals against previously undefeated Mullen for the game-winner. He scored six touchdowns — and ran for 310 yards — against Palmer in the preliminaries to get his run going.
Still overwhelmed by all of it, Astorga said, “It feels good,” but he doesn’t mind at all when Misare gets the ball and he takes a rest.
“It gives me a break, and he has always helped me out, giving me advice on how to run the ball, how to hold onto it. He likes defense a lot; it’s where he played as a sophomore. It’s impressive he can play both sides.”
Misare, who will enter the Air Force Academy and had Astorga as his backup a year ago, is one of multiple Huskies who can’t argue with the results.
“I was totally fine with it,” Misare said of his move to linebacker this season, where he started in 2005. “I knew Jose would be fine. As a sophomore, he didn’t get many carries, but you could see some serious potential. Look where we’re at; something’s going right.”
A native of El Paso, Astorga is one of Douglas County’s strongest players. His iron grip on the ball comes from being able to power-clean 365 pounds and squat more than 650.
“It really helps me,” Astorga said. “I’m not that big, and I go up against a lot of bigger guys, but it gives me an advantage.”
Other aid may come from his lifestyle. The Astorgas reside in a farmhouse on a ranch in nearby Franktown. Jose’s father works the ranch, some horses and lots of cattle. In the summer, he is joined by his junior namesake.
Try toiling on a ranch for day, including baling hay. Misare did.
“I went up there with him one time, and it quickly kicked my butt,” he said.
Astorga called it “a way to make some money, but you get sick of it.”
As for Astorga’s breakaway speed, he has dabbled in track and is considering it again come spring.
His last act on the football field this season is mere hours away.
“I have to be thankful for this season,” Astorga said. “Who knows if we’ll get another chance like this?
“Coach Ketron asked us what are we going to do to get it? It’s how you handle it. And I want it pretty bad.”
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
