The Quincy High School boys soccer program closed the decade the same way it opened it.

With success.

QHS reached the super-sectional in 2000, while in 2009, the Blue Devils received mention in national polls and won their sixth straight Western Big Six Conference championship. In between, there were some highs and lows, but one thing has remained the same.

The Blue Devils have never been a pushover. Here are five players, listed in alphabetical order, who have helped define the success of the QHS program:

Zach Forbes

One of only two Quincy players to earn all-state honors from the Illinois High School Coaches Association this decade, Forbes spent 2007-09 as a starter at sweeper, but he's often remembered for two clutch goals he scored as a sophomore as he is for his defensive prowess.

In the regional semifinals against Chatham Glenwood, the Blue Devils trailed 1-0 with 11 minutes left in regulation when Forbes banged in a shot off a Titans defender to tie the game. The Blue Devils won the game in overtime, setting up a rematch with Quincy Notre Dame.

In that game, Forbes again was in the right place at the right time. Off a Jacob Longo restart in the 49th minute, Forbes went horizontal to score off a diving header for the first goal in the Blue Devils' 2-0 victory. He finished his career with 13 goals and three assists.

The size that made him so dangerous on restarts and corner kicks also gave him an edge as a defender. The 6-foot-3 Forbes helped Quincy post 14 shutouts and allow just 10 goals, which will be tied for ninth for fewest goals allowed in a season in the Illinois High School Association record books.

"If you've got a corner kick and you're going up against two center backs who are 6-foot-3, you're thinking, 'How am I going to win this head ball?'" said Forbes, who teamed with sweeper Gavin Schaefer to create an imposing duo. "It helps out because you get in people's heads with it and use your body to your advantage."

Matt Klauser

The backbone of a defense that paved Quincy's path to the super-sectional in 2000, Klauser was a three-year starter at sweeper whose leadership was as invaluable as his play.

His strength as a leader became evident the summer before his senior season. Klauser was invited to play in a select tournament in Hawaii, where he was named an all-star and learned how to be a leader without ever saying much.

"You go in and do your job. You play hard," Klauser said at the time. "Everybody else kind of watches, and once you start playing like that, everyone else follows. That's the way it has to be."

Klauser earned all-sectional and All-Western Big Six Conference honors as a senior as the Blue Devils lost 2-0 to Edwardsville in the super-sectional. Quincy allowed just one goal in winning the regional and sectional that season.

"He understands the game as well as anyone I've coached," former QHS coach Bill Sanders said when Klauser signed with Drury, an NCAA Division I school at the time. "He adapts. He adjusts. He's a very intelligent player. His work ethic is the best of anybody I've coached."

Erik Nothold

Only six players south of I-80 were named to the Chicago Tribune's all-state team in 2006. Nothold was one of them.

A strong defender who used his size to his advantage, Nothold anchored a defense that tied a school record with 17 shutouts and allowed only 13 goals. That ties Quincy for 23rd on the Illinois High School Association's list of fewest goals allowed in a season.

Yet, the most telling sign of Nothold's influence isn't in the numbers. It's in the way the Blue Devils beat Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 1-0 in overtime in the sectional championship in 2006. The Blue Devils played from their heels the final 40 minutes. SHG outshot QHS 9-0 in the second half and attempted nine corner kicks, but never scored.

"It's like a wall back there," SHG coach Sam Tate said after that game. "We had a difficult time getting behind their defenders. We thought if we could get behind them we could score. We had a couple of chances. It just didn't happen."

Nothold earned all-sectional honors and All-Western Big Six Conference honors as the Blue Devils did not allow a goal in five league games. Yet, the effort against SHG is one to remember.

"We had to step up, we had no other choice," Nothold said. "They kept jamming it down our throats."

Drew Senior

Tabbed the team's most valuable player in 2007, the Quincy keeper proved his worth in knocking Springfield out of the Class AA sectional and saving the Blue Devils' season.

Scoreless through regulation and four overtimes, the sectional semifinal came down to a penalty-kick shootout, and when the Senators' Jared Klay made a save on the Blue Devils' first attempt, all the pressure fell on Senior.

He shrugged it off. Senior stopped three straight attempts as the Blue Devils won the shootout 3-1 and reached the sectional finals for the second straight year.

"In all honesty, I'm glad I have Drew Senior on my side," Quincy coach Matt Longo said after that game.

It wasn't the first time Longo felt that way. During the opening round of the Quincy Soccer Classic, Senior got his hands on all five attempts by Lexington (Ky.) Dunbar during a shootout, saving three and helping the Blue Devils win 3-2.

He also stopped a penalty kick against nationally-ranked Evansville (Ind.) Reitz Memorial in the championship game of the same tournament. Shootouts, though, were his specialty.

"I feel like we have the game in the bag when it comes to that," teammate Ryan Bradley said. "I can't express how much we love having Drew back there when it's PK time."

Senior went 4-0 and with two shutouts in Western Big Six Conference play, earning all-conference honors.

Zach Venvertloh

Trailing Moline 1-0 at halftime of the Western Big Six Conference opener his senior season, Venvertloh reminded his teammates how important winning the league title should be to every member of the program.

Then he showed how important it was to him.

Venvertloh set up two goals -- Gavin Schaefer scored off the rebound of a Venvertloh shot and Mitchell Schrage pounded home a Venvertloh assist -- to rally Quincy for the victory and the start of another WB6 championship campaign.

"We knew we had to come out strong, and we came out together," Venvertloh said at the time.

Such leadership earned him high praise. In 2008, Venvertloh became the school's first Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association all-state selection in a decade as the two-year starter at midfield helped the Blue Devils win 52 games over a three-year span.

He scored nine goals and had three assists during his senior season and finished his career with 24 goals and 13 assists.

An All-WB6 pick as a junior and senior, Venvertloh also earned the Steve Snider Scholarship his senior season. He is currently playing at Quincy University.

-- sports@whig.com/221-3365