La Salle routs Judge in Catholic AAAA semifinal

One of these weeks, Kevin Forster will return to lining up at receiver in La Salle High's ever-potent football offense.

For now, he's the quarterback and, hey, what do you know, he's not whipping 30 passes per game.

"I definitely throw more passes in practice than I do in games," Forster said, laughing.

Does he complete a whole lot?

"On and off," he said.

The 6-2, 180-pound Forster, a first-magnitude lacrosse star bound for Maryland, is hardly a pure QB. But in four stints this season, while filling in for junior Matt Magarity, currently out with a concussion, he has proven to be quite the football athlete who can play quarterback.

Friday night, at Harry S Truman in Levittown, La Salle spanked Father Judge, 34-7, in a Catholic AAAA semifinal. Forster passed for no TDs. Ah, but he did run for two while collecting 103 yards on 10 carries.

"One was a quarterback draw," he said, referring to his 52-yarder. "There was room to burn on the weak side, so I took it there.

"The other was an option with our slotback, Sean Coleman," he said, playing back his 46-yarder. "There was a pretty big plane there for me."

As a passer, despite his tendency to poke fun at himself, it's not as if Forster's throws injure folks in the upper reaches of the stands. In this one, he went 3-for-6 for 48 yards and, for the season, he's merely at 67.6 percent (23-for-34 for 302 yards).

In fact, in his first QB start, in Week 4 vs. Monsignor Bonner, he went a can't-do-any-better 7-for-7.

Last weekend, there was speculation that Magarity might return for this contest.

"I think Matt was cleared to play," Forster said. "Everyone just wanted to be safe. When Matt got his concussion against Roman, I'm sure [backup] Chris Kane felt a little bit of a downfall about not being the replacement. But we've gotten the job done, so it worked.

"I do like having the ball in my hands and being in control of the team. But I'm also ready for Matt to come back. He's our quarterback.'

Not to mention Forster's pseudo mentor.

"He talks to me about things he sees out there, and what I could do better," Forster said.

The in-game opportunities are limited, though, seeing as how Forster also stars at free safety (interception in this one).

"He talks to me during kickoffs," Forster pinpointed.

Mike Piscopo opened the scoring with a 31-yard interception return. Forster added his two scores, then Coleman (64 punt return) and Villanova commit Jamal Abdur-Rahman (50 run) maintained the long-scores theme.

Abdur-Rahman, whose score was set up by Forster's interception, finished with 87 yards on eight tries. Connor Reilly also had a pick for the defending state champs while Ryan Geiger (eight, six solos, two for losses) and Connor Daly (7-4-1) led in tackles. Forster made three stops and broke up three passes, as well.

Judge avoided a blanking on Nick Myers' late, 1-yard run. Tim Mills made four catches for 69 yards.

Forster and his older brothers, Rob, Jack and Randy, have been quite the noteworthy contributors for La Salle in football and/or lacrosse.

"Lacrosse is definitely my first love," Kevin said. "But I also like football a lot. It'll be tough to hang up the cleats. That's why I want to take this season as far as I can."