Sports

Alaska High School Football Team Hosts First Playoff Game North of the Arctic Circle

by Jon Azpiri | October 6, 2008 at 12:20 pm

1122 views | 0 Recommendations | 4 comments

Barrow, Alaska--the northernmost settlement on the North American mainland--hosted the first high school football playoff game ever played north of the Arctic Circle. The 8-1 Barrow High Whalers won their quarter-finals match against the Houston Hawks, 46-18.

The Whalers played the game on their new $500,000 artificial turf football field located just a few steps away from the Arctic Ocean. The field was built, not through a pork-funded project like Alaska's famous Bridge to Nowhere, but through the work of one dedicated Florida woman who heard about the team on ESPN.

The school received some exposure on ESPN that year due to the unusual challenges faced by the school in fielding a team. A Florida woman named Cathy Parker helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to have an artificial turf field installed in town. The Boise State-inspired blue field opened in 2007, but it was completely obscured by snow on Saturday.

Just two years removed from playing on dirt and struggling to win games, the Whalers find themselves 8-1 and two victories from a state title.

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chowdawg

at 13:29 on October 6th, 2008

In August 2008 Football University and its team of former NFLers spent a few days on the new blue field in Barrow and taught the Barrow Whaler High School football team and other village kids about football.

If Disney is looking for a feel good sports movie, then it should look no further than little Barrow, Alaska.

fbcoach50 (not verified)

at 15:26 on October 6th, 2008

Barrow is the cinderella story of the football world. This is a team that has tons of heart and character. They play in conditions that most high school football coaches would shudder to even consider. Only 3 years of organized football is hard to believe when you see the precision by which they execute the high powered offense. This story is one for the ages!

Dean Ringen (not verified)

at 16:18 on October 13th, 2008

Please don't post this. I am a school librarian at Whiteman AFB, Missouri. I would love to write an illustrated biographical fiction book about this football season at Barrow High School in Alaska.

Diane Ringen

dringen@knobnoster.k12.mo.us