Barrington graduate Peipert continues to rack up honors as St. Thomas quarterback

University of St. Thomas quarterback Nick Peipert, a graduate of Barrington High School, deserves another look.

The redshirt freshman earned College Achievers ink Sept. 28 after rising from fourth-string quarterback before the Tommies’ season to the Pioneer Football League’s offensive player of the week and freshman of the week following his first start Sept. 12 against Northern Michigan.

The 6-foot-1, 211-pounder is now a two-time PFL offensive player of the week and a four-time freshman of the week.

Peipert was added to the 2026 Jerry Rice Award Watch List, a group of 30 football players vying for the title of top freshman in the Football College Subdivision (FCS).

In seven starts and eight appearances overall after Saturday’s 35-7 win over Davidson in St. Paul, Minn. — when he passed for 257 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 116 yards and three more scores — Peipert has completed 108 of 168 passes (64%) for 1,588 yards, 13 touchdowns, and six interceptions.

He’s run for 463 yards on 6.7 yards per carry, with 10 touchdowns.

Going into the Davidson game, Peipert was tied for first among FCS passers with 15.72 yards per completion, and sixth with 165.31 passing efficiency. As a team, St. Thomas (7-2) ranked 11th in scoring offense at 36.9 points a game.

Since 2021 when St. Thomas went from Division III to Division I status for football, Peipert is the program’s only freshman to pass for at least 200 yards in multiple games in one season. He’s done that five times.

Big Ten champ

Callie Tumilty (Naperville Central), a sophomore forward on the Ohio State women’s soccer team, helped the Buckeyes win the Big Ten Conference regular-season championship outright. Their 3-0 win over Illinois last week in Columbus clinched the title and gave Ohio State a conference record of 10-1-0, best in program history. Ohio State is 14-1-1 overall.

A member of the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and an Ohio State Scholar Athlete in 2025, Tumilty has played in all 16 games this season with four starts. She is fourth on the Buckeyes in scoring with two goals and four assists for eight points.

A-R-C champ

Standing tall under late pressure by Loras College, University of Dubuque men’s soccer goalkeeper Riley Johnson (Willowbrook) preserved a 1-1 tie last week that gave Dubuque the American Rivers Conference regular season title, its first since 2021.

Just the day before, the Spartans’ fifth year player earned A-R-C defensive player of the week for the second time this season. He played 180 minutes in net in a pair of 3-0 victories, over Wartburg and Simpson. In 12 games this season, all starts, Johnson has a record of 8-1-3 with a 0.93 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Hilltoppers unite

Gonzaga senior Braden Huff and Purdue senior Caden Pierce, keys to Glenbard West’s 2022 Class 4A state championship boys basketball team, were both named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s 20-man 2027 Karl Malone Award Watch List for the top power forward in Division I basketball.

As a junior, Huff started the Bulldogs’ first 18 games and was off to his best start yet until suffering a season-ending injury. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 17.8 points on 66% shooting, with 5.6 rebounds a game.

Pierce, who took a redshirt year last season in order to finish his economics degree at Princeton, comes to Purdue after great success in the Ivy League. Averaging 11.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists in three seasons at Princeton, the 6-7 Pierce was the Ivy League 2023 freshman of the year and its 2024 player of the year. He also was named to the Malone Watch List before the 2024-25 season.

Nice start

After the third week of the season in the Hockey East Association, Maine sophomore forward Mackenzie Podewell of Wheaton on Oct. 19 was named the women’s player of the week.

The former Chicago Mission winger scored two goals with an assist against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (N.Y.) in a 5-3 victory. The next night she scored again in a 3-1 win. Podewell had the game-winning goal in both games.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com