Dana Hills Reaping Big Dividends From Smith’s Rising Stock

Last year at this time, Dana Hills forward Forrest Smith was sitting at home with a “huge, smelly cast” that covered almost all of his right leg. Today, he is leading Orange County in goals with 14 and playing for the county’s top-ranked team.

“It’s all a little hard to believe,” said Smith, who had a hat trick in the Dolphins’ 3-0 victory Friday over Long Beach Millikan in the Marina tournament final.

Maybe the hardest thing for Smith to believe is that college coaches are actually noticing him. UC Irvine Coach George Kuntz has been to several of his games and Fresno State and the University of San Francisco already have offered Smith a scholarship.

“I never thought I’d get any college recognition,” he said. “I started writing to Division II and Division III colleges. I thought that’s all I could play.”

But Smith started hearing otherwise after he returned home from the Nomads Tournament in San Diego over Thanksgiving weekend.

“I just wanted to play really well there,” said Smith, whose club, West Coast Beach of Mission Viejo, reached the semifinals of the tournament. “I wasn’t even thinking about impressing college coaches. I know a lot of kids who put too much pressure on themselves by constantly thinking about all the college coaches that are there.”

So Smith entered his senior season of high school soccer with a stack of letters, a load of confidence and a grand of total of four goals.

“I knew I could come in and score a lot of goals this year,” said Smith, who played halfback as a sophomore on Dana Hills’ South Coast League title winning team. “We have a lot of really good midfielders and [forward] Steve Jennings takes a lot of defenders away from me.”

Jennings, a wide receiver and kicker on the football team, leads the Dolphins in assists with six and he is second to Smith in goals with six.

“He’s a big guy who attracts a lot of attention,” said Smith, who has two assists. “I’m just the other guy.”

He was just the other guy. Ever since he started scoring goals in bunches, Smith is being double and sometimes triple-marked.

“That hasn’t really stopped him,” said Dana Hills Coach Dennis Korinke. “He’s just going through people. He doesn’t go down very easily. He’s a pretty tough kid.”

Smith proved that last year by recovering from a broken fibula and torn tendons in his ankle in less than two months. He was injured on a slide tackle in the Dolphins’ second game of the season against Santa Margarita. But after two months of intense therapy, Smith rejoined his team for the playoff drive.

Smith’s goal against Capistrano Valley sent the playoff game for third place in the South Coast League into overtime. Dana Hills eventually won on penalty kicks.

Once the season ended, there wasn’t much doubt who was the Dolphins’ most inspirational player.

“When his injury happened, I figured he’s down for the year,” Korinke said. “No one expected him back. But I really think what drove him was his desire to play soccer in college.”

When Smith returned to the lineup late last season, he was nowhere close to 100%. But now, Korinke wonders if Smith isn’t operating at 110% efficiency.

“That injury might have been a blessing,” Korinke said. “I don’t know if it was the time off or what, but I’ve never seen him faster.”

Smith said he can’t really explain why he has been able to average almost a goal a game against a top-notch schedule that has included Woodbridge twice, Mater Dei, Santa Ana and Long Beach Millikan.

“The strangest thing about it is, it hasn’t been that hard,” he said. “I guess that really convinced me that maybe I could play at the next level.”