When it comes to his job description playing sweeper, Northside senior Jason Forsey gets right to the point.

“I just hang out in the back and I just make sure nothing gets behind us,” Forsey, a two-year starter at sweeper, said. “That’s my one job, to watch the ball and make sure it doesn’t get behind the defensive line.”

Needless to say, Forsey doesn’t get many opportunities on the offensive side. He’s only scored two goals all season.

However, one of those goals came at perhaps the most important juncture of the Grizzlies’ postseason.

It came last Saturday during Northside’s 7A semifinal against Springdale.

With less than 15 minutes left and the Grizzlies trailing 1-0, Northside’s Christian Chavez took advantage of a mishandled ball by Springdale’s goalkeeper. Chavez located Forsey, who was uncontested to kick it in for the game-tying goal.

“He was at the right place at the right time,” Northside coach Mauricio Maciel said. “But for somebody that’s been playing for as long as he has, he has that experience, he has that sense for where that ball’s going to go and be there at the right time.”

The Grizzlies then won it, 2-1, on a late goal from Ricky Iturriaga. But Forsey was still locked in when the clock hit nothing but zeroes.

“They shot the ball (on a free kick) and it went out of bounds and I go and get the ball because I’m setting up for a goal kick,” Forsey said. “Then I hear everybody start celebrating because I didn’t even know the game was over; I was getting ready for the next play.


“Immediately, I punt the ball in the air and I ran over to the crowd with my teammates and celebrated.”

And with the win, Forsey and the Grizzlies will be moving on to the 7A championship game Friday in Fayetteville against Rogers, with a start time at noon.

The motivation to win a title is twofold for Forsey.

He was a freshman when the Grizzlies reached the title game, but lost to Bentonville. Then last season, Forsey was on the turf at Mayo-Thompson Stadium, looking on in shock and disbelief when Rogers Heritage stunned the Grizzlies in overtime in the 7A quarterfinals.

“Losing at home in the quarterfinals was a heart-breaker, and we made it our goal this year that we weren’t going to lose our first game (at state). ... And that’s what happened, and we’re going to just keep going with the run,” Forsey said.

Although the Grizzlies lost some vital players from last season’s team, Forsey said several of the newer players are actually fellow seniors who had mainly seen action on the junior varsity. Plus, Forsey mentioned the team’s defense is basically the same.

“We only lost one defender from this past year, who was Alfredo (Centeno) that was in front of me and we replaced him with Christian (Chavez) and Christian’s a big-bodied sophomore who likes to run, so nothing’s really different,” Forsey said. “Same thing, same story.”


Forsey also didn’t have trouble getting acclimated to playing with the Grizzlies’ new primary goalkeeper, senior Eric Flores.

“We work well together because he knows that whenever I see someone playing the long ball, I’m going to run after it,” Forsey said of Flores. “Then if they play back across, he’s always stepping out. It’s like we just know where to be in relationship to each other and it’s developed this year in practice every day.”

Maciel said that Forsey, who goes 6-foot-1, is able to use his height to his advantage when playing sweeper.

“His height helps us back there,” Maciel said. “He’s a good leader of the game, he anticipates well and that’s why he’s playing in the sweeper position where he’s playing.

“His height helps him win a lot of high balls; also, he’s very athletic and he reads the game well, so that’s a key for him.”

With a win on Friday, Forsey can also become the second member of his family to win a state title in as many years. His older brother, Jackson, played on the Grizzlies’ basketball team that won the 7A championship in March of 2017.

Jason Forsey said he really hasn’t had a chance to talk to his older brother about what it will be like to play for a state title, albeit in a different sport. But Jason does have an indication on what to expect come Friday.


“He (Jackson Forsey) hasn’t sat down and really talked to me at all, but I know like what he would say and my dad has talked to me and they’re basically the same person,” Jason Forsey said.

The brothers also played several sports growing up. In Jason’s case, he played every sport but football, and he began to grow a fondness for soccer, a sport he took up when he was four years old.

Friday will be his final soccer game at the high school level. Forsey, who has a 3.5 grade-point average, will move on to the University of Central Arkansas, where he plans to study business.

So that’s just another bit of motivation for Forsey, to end his soccer career on a high note. Not to mention bringing another state title back to Northside.

“It means everything, it means everything for this year because of all the spring sports, we’re the last ones left and we want to bring it home for our school and give us something we can be proud of,” Forsey said.
