Throughout his football career, Barrington’s Nick Peipert has been a quarterback.
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He can thank his father.
“I played quarterback when I was in flag football because my dad was the coach,” Peipert said. “I’ve always loved having the ball in my hands and throwing it.”
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior had the ball in his hands during crunchtime on Saturday night and made it count.
Peipert completed three passes during a four-play, 40-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter to lead the third-seeded Broncos to a thrilling 28-21 comeback victory against 14th-seeded Naperville Central in a second-round game in the Class 8A playoffs in Barrington.
Peipert and the Broncos (11-0), who advance to the quarterfinals and will host sixth-seeded Maine South (10-1), didn’t panic as the Redhawks (8-3) scored a touchdown on each of their first three drives.
“I know we have a good team and that there was a lot of time on the clock,” he said.
With the score tied 21-21 with 8:01 left in the fourth quarter, Barrington started the game-winning drive on Naperville Central’s 40-yard line. On the first play, Peipert dropped back and threw a long pass to senior wide receiver Will Nazha for a 27-yard gain.
“We’ve been running that play since the summer, and it’s a great route where I go on the outside, and I just happened to make the catch and hung onto the ball,” Nazha said. “Nick was so great on that drive. He’s such a great leader, and no matter what happens, he’s always positive. That’s the biggest thing about him.”
Two plays later, on third-and-9 from Naperville Central’s 16-yard line, Peipert glanced toward his left and threw a pass to wide-open senior wide receiver Conor Fitzpatrick for a 16-yard touchdown with 6:08 left. The Broncos took the lead for the first time.
“We called that same play earlier in the game, but it didn’t work,” Fitzpatrick said. “We came back to it. Our coaches have a lot of confidence in our team.
“It was a huge moment. Nick made a great throw. We knew it was an important drive and talked on the sidelines. We knew we had all the time in the world to close out the game. We had a great drive.”
Peipert, who finished with 130 passing yards, showed poise under pressure.
“I just tried to stay calm and collected and tried to work the ball down the field,” he said. “The wide receivers ran perfect routes and made great catches. The offensive line and running backs blocked great.”
Peipert, who said he grew up watching a long line of quarterbacks lead the Broncos to memorable wins, had completed 138 of 204 passes for 2,180 yards with 29 touchdowns and just three interceptions going into the game.
But Peipert said he didn’t even expect to be the starter. Coming off their first season without playoffs since 2012, the Broncos were forced to make a last-minute adjustment at quarterback, Barrington coach Joe Sanchez said.
“We had an incoming senior quarterback, but he decided to focus on baseball,” Sanchez said. “Nick took advantage of the opportunity and got better and better each week.”
Peipert was moved up to the varsity late last season and gained some valuable reps in the finale against Fremd. Nazha said the team tried to help Peipert make a fast adjustment to starter.
“We were excited to see what he could do,” Nazha said. “He’s been great for us all season.”
Peipert said the promotion caught him by surprise.
“At the beginning, I was shocked,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking I was going to start. I just started working out on the field with the wide receivers, running backs and offensive linemen. I tried to get in a lot of work to get a better feeling for the position. I got a lot of reps in.”
Sanchez said Peipert is proving to be a fast learner.
“Nick’s very cerebral,” Sanchez said. “He knows he’s part of something bigger. It’s been fun to watch him develop this season but will be even better to see him next year.”
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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