QHS All-Time Starting XI: Buying in early put Forbes on path to becoming dynamite defender

This is the 10th installment in a series highlighting the Quincy High School boys soccer players the Muddy River Sports staff has named to the program’s all-time starting 11 in conjunction with the Blue Devils’ 50th season.

Zach Forbes, Defender, Class of 2010

QUINCY — Three years before Zach Forbes reached high school, the evolution of the Quincy High School boys soccer program began.

He took note of it.

Bill Sanders resigned as the Blue Devils’ head coach in November 2003 to focus on becoming a school administrator, and QHS turned to Matt Longo to reinvigorate the program. The Blue Devils went from 3-19 in the fall of 2003 to 16-4-3 during the 2004 season. From there, more and more success followed.

“It was a transition where it was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to figure this out,’” Forbes said. “My memories are of how quickly it turned. It went from a team that was winning a few games a year to a team that was .500 to where it was one of the best teams in the state consistently, one of the best programs in the state.”

Forbes played a significant role in that taking place.

A three-year starter who was an all-state defender that could move up top and be a scoring threat, Forbes helped the Blue Devils to a 53-13-4 record with three Western Big 6 Conference championships and one regional title from 2007-09. He went on to enjoy a stellar career at DePaul, but none of it would have been possible without commitment.

He was determined to be a Blue Devil long before he could be one.

“Across the two sports I played at Quincy High was this family belief,” said Forbes, who was an all-state basketball player and 1,000-point career scorer. “It made you feel like you were part of something that was bigger than yourself. It enabled buy-in. I was bought in from the time I was in fifth or sixth grade to a program I wasn’t even going to be a part of for another five years.”

His older brother, Tyler, was a senior defender on Longo’s first team in 2004, and watching closely how that team developed resonated with Forbes.

“Everything about that made me want to be a part of that,” Forbes said. “I saw the impact it had on my brother. … These little changes they made certainly made a dramatic difference over time.”

It wasn’t just Longo. It was assistant coaches like Eric Stratman and Travis Dinkheller whose poured their own heart and soul into the program.

“Their investment in talent and youth and having an eye for the potential players who are coming through the funnel and nurturing that talent in the very early stages was remarkable,” Forbes said. “They laid the foundation.”

That included a decision to keep underclass teams together.

“My freshman year — and this was a strategic decision on their part — they weren’t going to allow any freshmen to play up,” Forbes said. “I know that’s changed over time, but they were saying, ‘We’re going to foster this next generation of talent. We’re going to keep them together. Let them play together. Then we’re going to be able to string together multiple years of unbelievable teams.’”

From 2004-16, the Blue Devils never won fewer than 13 games, reached the 20-victory plateau once, captured five regional titles and three sectional crowns, and enjoyed the best finish in program history with a Class 3A state runner-up trophy in 2015.

It stems from players like Forbes making the decision to be great and to be a Blue Devil.

“It’s what you wanted to do,” Forbes said. “You lived for that.”

He thrived as an intimidating presence.

The starting sweeper, the 6-foot-3 Forbes anchored a defense his senior season that posted 14 shutouts and allowed just 10 goals, which tied for ninth for fewest goals allowed in a season in the Illinois High School Association record books at the end of that season.

Forbes earned all-state honors from the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association and second-team honors from the Chicago Tribune after helping the Blue Devils win their first 15 games and finish with a 19-3-1 mark in 2009. He was inducted into the QHS Hall of Fame in 2020.

“He was just a physical presence on the field who towered back there,” Longo said. “He got to balls. He won balls. He distributed balls from back there. And when we needed a goal, we’d send him up. … He could have played anywhere on the field for us and been as good as a forward as he was a defender, and as good as he was as a defender, he could have been a better midfielder.”

To read more of the Starting XI profiles as they are published, follow the links below:

Speed, skill allow Abbey to develop into dynamic scoring machine

Work ethic enables Bradshaw to seize opportunity to be great

Finding footing as freshman helps Smith become part of tradition

Deft touch, high IQ turn Reeves into one of Blue Devils’ greatest players

Playing up paves way for Sandercock’s Hall of Fame career

Berry becomes maestro at midfield in leading Blue Devils to state tourney

Sohn’s control of pace and play leads to magical state run by Blue Devils

Ability to communicate, control back line led to Higgins’ historic career

Absorbing coaching enables Evans to elevate himself, teammates