Outdoorsman quarterback was quite a catch for St. Thomas

Andy Peters accounted for five touchdowns Saturday to earn Pioneer League player of the week honors. It was the kind of performance that St. Thomas coaches envisioned when they reached Peters on a beach in Honduras this past spring to offer him a chance to play quarterback.

Peters was on vacation to unwind and celebrate what he thought might be the end of his athletic career. He already had spent two seasons at Boise State and three at College of Idaho.

He still had an extra season of eligibility remaining thanks to a recent NCAA ruling, but there were no guarantees a school would see his name among all the other quarterbacks in the transfer portal and give him a shot.

So he went scuba diving in Honduras with his girlfriend and a buddy.

“It was kind of like, here’s the end of football and transition to the next part of life,” he said. “It was a big trip.”

An eventful one, too, beyond scuba diving. First, he got a call from his offensive coordinator at College of Idaho asking if he still wanted to play. If so, he should expect a call from St. Thomas in Minnesota.

“I was like, OK, that’s kind of random,” Peters said.

Peters leads the Pioneer League in passing efficiency and ranks second in passing yards and touchdown passes. He has guided the Tommies to a 6-3 record, 4-2 in the conference.

We would call it a perfect marriage, but Peters is already committed in that area — the girlfriend he took to Honduras, Ilah Hickman, is now his fiancée and will become his wife in January.

Hickman is having a busy fall of her own. A game warden for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, she gets to experience some of the most spectacular scenery in the United States while enforcing conservation laws.

She gave Peters her full support to leave Idaho for one final season of football.

“I’m excited to have him back with me in Idaho and to be hunting and husband and wife and all that fun stuff,” Hickman said by phone. “But I told him this is your last chance until … forever.”

“When this is done, it’s done,” he said.

Tommies coach Glenn Caruso wanted an experienced quarterback this season, so his staff turned to the portal. They evaluated 60 to 65 potential fits from all levels before whittling the list to six. Their homework led them to Peters, who visited for the spring game.

“It was really obvious that he would do really well here,” Caruso said.

Despite stepping up a notch in competition from NAIA, Peters has thrown 17 touchdown passes and only three interceptions and is tied for a team high with six rushing touchdowns.

“Everything just moves faster,” he said of the Pioneer League. “People are faster and more talented. The bruises are bigger after the game. I’m a little bit more sore than normal.”

“She’s as outdoorsy as anybody you’ve met in your life,” Peters said. “She can tell you every single fish and every type of deer, bear, everything.”

Hickman’s fascination with nature and wildlife began as a child on hunting and fishing outings with her dad.

“I always joke that I’m his first-born son,” she said, laughing. “I enjoy the sportsman lifestyle.”

She earned a degree in wildlife and ecology management from Utah State. She spent one summer interning on a fish crew that worked on population estimates of trout.

“I really am a fish nerd,” she said.

“I would say 60 to 80 percent of my patrol area was outside of cell coverage and radio coverage,” she said.

Her job duties include checking fish licenses and patrolling for poaching. She has also assisted a population biologist in trapping grizzly bears for identification measurements.

“I’ve had my hands on a lot of different critters out here,” she said. “I am very proud of what I do and the agency that I work for. It’s a fascinating job. You get to see some of the coolest things and experience things that nobody else will ever experience.”

The couple share an adventurous spirit. Last year, they did a 65-mile loop in Sawtooth Wilderness, three days of fishing and camping in the backcountry.

“It is one of the best memories I have with him,” Hickman said.

Hickman recently relocated back to the Boise area for work. Their wedding is in January, but they pushed the honeymoon to the fall to check off another bucket list item. Their plan is to visit Mo’orea, an island in French Polynesia.

“It’s one of the only places in the world where you can lawfully and ethically swim with humpback whales during their migratory routes,” Hickman said. “I think scuba diving is one of the best activities you can do on this Earth.”

Their honeymoon will take place just after a new football season begins, which will be the first for Peters as a fan and husband and not a quarterback.

“I’m excited to go back and start that chapter of life,” he said. “But it’s also very interesting to have this all done and close a chapter.”

He hopes to win a few more games before turning that page.

Logan Lachermeier: The Minneapolis North quarterback passed for 331 yards and seven touchdowns, including a go-ahead touchdown with 16 seconds left, in a Class 3A section final win over St. Croix Lutheran.

Blake Cashman/Eric Wilson: The Vikings linebackers were everywhere in a win over the Lions, combining for 18 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, four tackles for loss and nine quarterback pressures.

“He always carried himself with that confidence. He has that dog mentality, like we all know. I said to him before the game: ‘Just go out there, just play your role, we’re all behind you. You’ve got 10 people behind you to go and fight and do what we need to do.’”

— Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson on J.J. McCarthy after the quarterback accounted for three touchdowns in an upset of the Lions in his return from an ankle injury.

5: Touchdowns allowed by St. John’s defense, fewest nationally in Division III.

32: Sacks by the Gophers defense, tied for fourth-most in FBS.

3,038: Passing yards by Minnesota State Moorhead’s Jack Strand, tops nationally in Division II. Strand also ranks first in touchdown passes with 34.

The best things we saw on social media this week:

J.J. back: The Vikings’ young QB and his teammates were fired up after beating Detroit.

Congrats, James: Engle was all smiles after breaking the Maple Grove record.

Another upset: St. Michael-Albertville pulled off an even bigger surprise last Friday by winning at Rosemount. Our guy Jerry Holt created a great collection of pictures from the game, found here.

State tournament time. It’s unfair to single out one game when 56 teams across seven classifications remain alive entering the state tournament. Each team wants two more wins to secure a spot in the Prep Bowl. One win after that brings home a championship trophy.

“Finally.”

Every game counts the same in the standings, but the Vikings needed a performance like Sunday in Detroit in the worst way. A veteran roster built to contend finally played like the team that observers expected coming into the season, especially on defense. Getting healthy was critical, but not the sole reason. Next step is consistency.

. . .