Eli Hickman has played quarterback in the Rensselaer system since sixth grade. He led the Bombers to a 9-0 record last season on the junior varsity.
But it wasn’t until Friday night when Hickman, a junior, made his first varsity start.
“I’m not gonna lie, I was very nervous,” he said. “They were good nerves, though. I just wanted to get the job done for my team. It took that first drive and everything settled in.”
It didn’t take long for Hickman to get going either, capping his initial drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Hughes to give Rensselaer a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. The visiting Bombers defeated Kankakee Valley 34-12 to take home the Cracker Barrel Trophy.
Hickman completed 5 of 11 passes for 91 yards and a TD with an interception, adding seven carries for 29 yards and two TDs. While the stats don’t jump off the page, Rensselaer coach Chris Meeks was pleased with Hickman’s performance despite a couple miscues.
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“We’ll watch film and see a couple things he can improve, but you expect little things like that to happen in someone’s first start and those will improve as he gets some experience,” Meeks said. “Overall, I thought he did great job leading our offense.
“And he’s almost like another coach on the field. He talks to me in between plays and helps us find things we can do, and I thought he did a good job with that (Friday). He’s what we want as a leader at the quarterback position.”
Leadership ability is something Hickman said he has always possessed.
“We have a good group of guys, so it’s easy being a leader on this team,” Hickman said. “You gotta have someone out there on the field who’s a calming influence. You can’t have 500 guys trying to go 500 different ways. You need that one guy who’s gonna bring it all together.”
That leadership shone through in the third quarter when Hickman pulled aside freshman running back Dylan Kidd, who produced 50 yards and a TD on seven carries after Kidd was tackled for a big loss.
“He was supposed to go inside but went outside,” Hickman said of Kidd. “He’s just a freshman so I told him to just take the 1-yard loss and not the 6. He’s still learning and he’ll be a really good player.”
The 5-foot-7, 150-pound Hickman won’t impress people coming off the bus, so he keeps it simple offensively. Being a left-handed pitcher on the baseball team, that’s something he’s also adjusted to.
“I’m never going to run over or outrun anybody,” he said. “I just gotta hit the hole hard and get as many yards as I can.
“Coming from baseball, that’s a much different arm slot, so there’s still some getting used to. I’ve been working with the receivers and that’s something we’ll figure out.”
CJ Peters is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.