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# Senior Year: Forte shouldering the load for Milford
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/senior-year-forte-shouldering-the-load-for-milford/
- Published: 2010-10-13T17:51:39.000Z
- Updated: 2010-10-13T17:51:39.000Z
- Description: John Forte has been called a lot of things by opposing football coaches this season. Workhorse. Go-to guy. Beast. The Milford High School senior running back has been all of those at some point this season – some literal, some figurative – as the Spartans have gotten off to a 3-1 start in Division I
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division III-IV, Fall Sports, Division III, football, Milford, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

John Forte has been called a lot of things by opposing football coaches this season.

Workhorse. Go-to guy. Beast.

The Milford High School senior running back has been all of those at some point this season – some literal, some figurative – as the Spartans have gotten off to a 3-1 start in Division III.

There was the fourth-quarter drive against Pembroke, a game in which Milford was clinging to a lead, that Forte got the ball on every play of the possession and ran out the clock to preserve a win.

In the Spartans’ win over Con-Val, Forte churned out 189 yards on the ground, giving him almost 700 yards through just four weeks of the season. While the yardage has slipped in the last two weeks as other teams have keyed on him, Forte is still happy with the position Milford is in going into Friday’s game against Souhegan (4-0).

“Every game we try to go out and win,” Forte said. “I wanted to help that. It’s not just up to me, it’s up to the whole team.”

Even though the coaching staff tried to avoid focusing the offense around one player, early in the season the team needed someone to step up and lead the way. Forte was that player.

“There have been times when he’s made the big yards and then we feel confident giving him the ball,” Milford coach Keith Jones said. “Not that we don’t feel confident in any back we have getting the ball, he just seems to be lowering the boom a little bit this year. That’s what we like, that downhill running style.”

Although he had been a starter at linebacker since his sophomore year, Forte hadn’t seen as much time on the offensive side of the ball until this season. Going into the year, Jones thought he knew what to except from the senior and so far, he’s gotten it.

“We were hoping and so far it’s been right,” Jones said. “He’s a kid, in order for us to be successful, he has to carry the ball 15 or 16 times in a game, at least.”

As for the rest of the team, Forte knew it would be a solid bunch, having played with most of the seniors for the past few years.

“I knew that most of the kids were pretty talented,” he said. “I’ve been playing with them for seven or eight years. We’re pretty tight. We know what we’re all capable of doing. We’ve just got to work off each other.”

Forte has split carries with fellow senior Max Goudreau, who had a breakout game of his own against Bedford, rushing for 214 yards. The two of them have teamed up in the backfield with Matt Scott, Joe Albina and quarterback Bud Theriault.

“We have a very talented backfield and a very talented group,” Forte said. “Any one of us is capable of doing that. It gives me a lot of confidence that the team trusts me to put together a drive like that and put the team on my back. But it’s the whole team, it’s not just me. When the linemen are blocking, any one of us is capable of doing it.”

So far this season, Forte has been leading the way. No matter what they call him, opposing coaches know that.