THE BIGS OF TIMBER CREEK
- Al Thompson
- 13 hours ago
- 5 min read
Sophomore Chris Forte joins senior star tackle Roseby Lubintus and Josh Dasliva to form a great offensive line and help push the Chargers to success in 2025.
Chris Forte is a 6-foot-3, 340-pound sophomore guard who plays for Timber Creek.
During his freshman season, when he played for Camden Catholic, Forte showed that he is not all about size.
He showed he can also move with the best of them. Under all that weight there is a good amount of fast twitch.
So it should be no surprise that when Forte was asked who is favorite NFL players are he picked a pair of monstrous lineman who combine size and speed to earn a combined ten Pro Bowls.
Philadelphia Eagles Landon Dickerson and Indianapolis Colts Quenton Nelson were his picks.
Forte, who started his very young career on defense, was asked if these guys inspired him to move to the offensive line of scrimmage.
“Yeah, big time,” Forte said during an interview after a team summer workout on the Erial, New Jersey campus.
He then talked about his trip to Texas the year before after being picked to play in an all-star football event that also got him excited to play football.
“You know, when I went down to Texas two years ago for the All American bowl (NJ eighth grade all-star youth football), I was, like, really inspired, just being in the Texas area, I know they're really big on football, and (New) Jersey's very up and coming.”
How did New Jersey fare in the national spotlight?
“Yeah, we won that year. There. There are two Jersey teams. One of them took third. One took first.”
Forte said he played for the New Jersey Assassins that represented New Jersey in the tournament.
“It was an awesome experience,” said Forte, to get better.”
He said after that experience and watching Dickerson and Nelson play on Sundays, he knew wanted to play in high school
“Yeah, it was a very good opportunity,” Forte said. “And then, you know, after that, that kind of opened the door to me, to look at the private schools, and that's how I ended up going to Camden Catholic.
“And if I didn't pick a private school, I would have come here naturally,” said Forte, who talked about coming Thanksgiving Day games when Timber Creek quarterback legend Devin Leary was setting New Jersey records for touchdown passes.
“When I was younger, I used to always come to the Turkey Bowl games. When Devin played in all of them, I used to love it.”
Forte said he went to Camden Catholic for the education aspect and that the Fighting Irish were pretty good, finishing 9-2 overall and 6-0 in the West Jersey - Patriot League in 2024.
Forte said started to miss the Timber Creek High School community.
“I haven't seen a Turkey Bowl game a little bit,” Forte said. “But I used to always come to them, and I was always inspired by Timber Creek.”
Forte said the commute to Camden Catholic started to wear on him at the end of his freshman year.
“It's kind of hard to get there every day,” he said. “There’s a lot to it.”
Also when a school – high school or college – changes head coaches in any sport, with today’s ability for players to transfer for better situations, players take advantage of it…even high school freshmen like Forte.
John Martino was appointed as the new head coach in January 2025, according to Camden Catholic High School. He replaced Wayne Gilliam II, who stepped down after leading the team for two seasons.
“There was a lot going on with the new coaching staff,” Forte said. “And I just kind of. I wanted to stay somewhere where I knew there was stability. There's a lot of [stability] over here. The Timber Creek staff is awesome.”
Forte will join Timber Creek’s star offensive lineman Roseby Lubintus, who is listed at 6-6, 350 pounds by Rivals.com.
Lubintus is committed to Syracuse University going into his senior season.
Timber Creek head football coach Brian Wright talked about what Forte brings to the Chargers O-line and what players he will also lean on to improve on the team’s overall record from last year.
“Chris will bring size, ability and depth to an already deep offensive line,” Wright said in an email to Footballstories. Playing alongside Roseby gives Chris an opportunity to learn from an established player that has gone down this road before.
“We have a great group this year with a bunch of guys that we expect to get contributions from including OL Josh Dasliva, RB's Zyeir Green, James "Bam" Redd, QB Tyrone Baker, WR Lamel Young, WR Gabe Foxworth, LB Brody Conway, DE Eli Green and Safety Amir Culbertson.”
The Chargers finished 4-6 in 2024, losing four straight to end the season including a 13-10 playoff loss to Seneca.
Forte said he will look forward to the experience of playing alongside a legitimate Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) player like Lubintus.
“Yeah, I think that'll be awesome,” Forte said. “You know me and him, that's 700 pounds put together.” “He plays tackle…I'll be right next to him. He'll be left tackle. I'll be left guard.”
In addition to Lubintus, Forte brought up Jack Crowne, Rodney Paige Jr., Josh DaSilva, Kris Gilpatrick and Chris Forte, Tim Myers. He also talked about quarterback Tyrone Baker, running backs James "Bam" Redd and Zyeir Green.
Forte was reminded of getting to play left guard next a great left tackle like Lubintus gets him to think about the Eagles player he admired most in Landon Dickerson?
“Yeah, exactly…I’ve done a lot of film study on him,” said Forte with a laugh.
“I think the O-line is a big stepping stone for us. The rest of the O-line is seniors. It’s going to be a real mature line.
“Our quarterback and running backs are really good this year. And we will have a really good defense.”
He is only going to be a sophomore this year at Timber Creek…is it too soon to think about college football?
“Yeah, but I try to look ahead,” Forte said with a smile. “But the big goal is the NFL. I want to be Landon Dickerson.”
If you want to be great, you need vision. That’s something the Chargers massive lineman is not lacking.*
Some information from maxpreps.com.
Email Al Thompson at al.thompson@footballstories.com
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