The first time Scotty Forbes thought about quitting football came when he lost out on the starting quarterback job at Briar Woods eight days before the start of his junior season.
The next such instance was after two seasons at Dominion when National Signing Day passed without him fielding an offer. But upon high school graduation, the 5-foot-10 signal caller found a way to continue playing football by joining the team at Midwestern Prep – an organization based in Orland Park, Ill., that offers an ACT prep course and games against Division III and junior college opponents.
“I don’t want to say that I almost gave up, but I was getting to the point,” Forbes said. “I was just thinking ‘Oh my god, I don’t know what more I have to do to get the chance.'”
At the 11th hour, Forbes finally received a Division I offer as a preferred walk-on at Wagner. After visiting the school, he committed, putting an end to a lengthy recruiting process.
From the start, Forbes knew he had to go above and beyond to overcome his size and stand out to recruiters. When he met Wagner’s coaches, they delivered a long-awaited message.
“They were the one and only coaches that said ‘Scotty, we don’t care about your height,” Forbes said. “They told me ‘You just have to come in and work hard and you’ll get your chance if you do what you need to do.’ That’s all I ever wanted to hear.”
Forbes received an offer from Savannah State in October, but he turned it down in early January after some careful consideration. The move was a gamble, as he did not have any other school to turn to. As signing day approached, it seemed like he might have passed on his only chance to play Division I football.
“The night before Wagner called, I was freaking out,” Forbes said. “I was like ‘Oh my god I’ve been doing this for so long, and now I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to play.'”
After years of attending camps and emailing coaches stats and highlights, Forbes is looking forward to finally playing the game without worrying about his future.
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“It’s going to be real nice to play football again without having to stress about recruiting,” Forbes said.
NUMBER CRUNCH: 34
Consecutive wins in the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League by Stone Bridge before Friday night’s 4-3 loss to first-year Colgan. The two-time defending league champs then dropped another game to rival Broad Run on Sunday, 6-4.
https://twitter.com/colganhockey/status/830288086412173312
BONUS NUMBER CRUNCH: 2 > 1
The top two teams in both the boys’ and girls’ rankings squared off over the weekend and in each case, No. 2 emerged victorious. On Friday, it was Darron Barnes who turned in a double-double to propel Wise past No. 1 Rock Creek Christian, 64-58. Then, Sunday afternoon, the defending WCAC champion Paul VI girls avenged their lone loss of the season by edging top-ranked St. John’s, 58-54. Needless to say, we’ll have two new No. 1 teams later in the day Monday.
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BREAKFAST LINKS
PHOTOS FROM A WILD WEEKEND
No. 2 Paul VI beats No. 1 St. John’s, 58-54
Paul VI’s 383-day win streak was snapped by St. John’s three weeks ago.
Robinson comes out on top at Va. 6A North region meet
The Rams ran away with their first team title since 2014.
Episcopal outlasts No. 19 Bullis, 64-62
The Maroon snaps a string of close IAC losses by knocking off the Bulldogs on senior night.
MUST-SEE VIDEO
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
New kid on the block. Our newest AllMetSports reporter, Jesse Dougherty, joined the AllMetSports staff last week. Give him a follow on Twitter to stay up to date with the latest scribe crisscrossing the DMV to find stories that matter to the area’s players, parents, coaches, and fans. Monday afternoon, he’ll be chronicling the action when the Whitman girls square off against Holy Child in an intriguing public-private school clash in Potomac.
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