To some, the Prep Bowl may be an afterthought or a waste of time, but not to senior running back Nick Herman and St. Rita.
Herman ran for 62 yards against Marian Catholic and 113 more against Marist as the Mustangs won the Prep Bowl in 2023. Those performances opened a few eyes of college coaches.
“Those games helped me tremendously,” Herman said of mailing out his highlight tapes. “I sent a lot of film out. I had some nice outside runs, and they liked the way I play.”
Herman received notice from Boise State, Vanderbilt and Wyoming and picked up offers from Valparaiso, Butler and Minnesota State.
But he’s not done making an impression. Herman ran 15 times for 181 yards and two touchdowns for St. Rita in Saturday’s 49-14 win over Quincy in a Class 7A state quarterfinal game in Chicago.
Herman had a backbreaking 91-yard TD run in the third quarter for the Mustangs (10-2), who finished with 396 yards on the ground and 531 overall. Brandon Johnson Jr. added 81 yards.
Steven Armbruster followed with 54 yards and David DeLacy had 47, while senior linebacker Justin Buckner scored on a 5-yard run and returned an interception 43 yards for another TD.
Herman’s big run came two plays after the Mustangs were pinned at their own 2. He came up with a 7-yard run and then had the big burst to give St. Rita a 28-14 lead.
“I thought I could have broken the first one,” Herman said. “We ran the same play, and I just turned the jets on. I believe that’s the biggest run I’ve had.”
Quincy (11-1) was led by Braydn Little, who completed 28 of 54 passes for 285 yards. The Blue Devils amassed 403 yards but could not score after enjoying a 14-7 lead in the first quarter.
“He’s special, man,” St. Rita coach Martin Hopkins said of Herman. “Kudos to that punter (Little) for putting us back at the 2. Nick helped get that thing out, then ran 91 yards to give us a cushion.
“That helped separate us.”
It advances the Mustangs to a state semifinal at home against Mount Carmel (10-3), which won a wild one 49-42 over Normal Community. The Caravan beat St. Rita 28-0 in the regular season.
Buckner, meanwhile, was impressed with Herman’s run.
“He ran to the sideline and was yelling,” Buckner said. “He got us all fired up.”
Quincy came into the quarterfinals fired up with a Western Big 6 Conference championship, a perfect record and having scored 520 points in 11 games. The Blue Devils were business as usual in the first 12 minutes, totaling 151 yards and scoring two TDs, but then hit the wall.
St. Rita ran for only 14 yards and ended up with a mere 58 overall during that first quarter.
But Herman went for 130 yards and two TDs as the Mustangs scored 28 points in the third quarter, setting up an awaited rematch against neighboring CCL/ESCC rival Mount Carmel.
“They were saying last year that this wasn’t a rivalry,” Buckner said of the Caravan. “But we want to show them this is a rivalry. We’re playing with confidence.”
Herman, who missed a pair of games this season with an injury, entered Saturday’s game with 887 of the St. Rita’s 1,676 yards on the ground.
He started out in kindergarten and was influenced by his uncle, Tony Plazibat, who played running back in the mid-1990s at Stagg.
As a young player, Herman broke away for a couple of big runs. He’s loved the sport ever since.
“I just love running,” he said. “I love running against people and getting good wins for my team.
“I put my foot in the ground and go. That’s my game.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
