Anchorage Daily News

Alaska's first Arctic football team is undefeated, and nothing short of a late-season meltdown will stop the Barrow Whalers from hosting a top-of-the-world playoff game -- not finger-numbing temperatures, not hungry polar bears, not high gas prices.

The Whalers clinched a postseason berth last week, and with two weeks left in the regular season, they need a victory over Nikiski on Friday to make Alaska's North Slope a wildly entertaining venue for football in October.

"It'll be historic," said Trent Blankenship, North Slope Borough School District's superintendent.

And possibly every bit as hostile as it was in the NFL's famed "Ice Bowl" championship game between Green Bay and Dallas in 1967.

It was minus 13 at kickoff for that game. Historical records show Barrow isn't quite that cold in early October, though.

But players are likely to be packing hand warmers inside their jersey and villagers will definitely be packing heat in case any polar bears show up.

"If the cold doesn't get you, then a polar bear could," joked Rus Schreckenghost of Alaska Schools Activities Association, the state's governing body of high school sports.

Polar bear sightings in town have been frequent lately. The bears live on sea ice and will prowl on land if the ice is near shore. They swim onto the Beaufort Sea shore right next to the football field.

"They're real hungry this time of year," Blankenship said.

Wildlife photographer John Gleason saw a polar bear walking next to the fenced-in football field two weeks ago. He said in an e-mail it was the closest he has seen a polar bear approach the field.

"Like the black bears on the golf courses in Anchorage, it's bound to happen," he said.

His pictures, which have been posted on blogs and published statewide in newspapers, were taken at 10 a.m. on a Sunday -- 24 hours after students from Hopson Middle School had played there.

Outdoor practices on Monday were canceled due to the number of sightings, one coach said.

But no need to fear, football fans -- at least that's what Barrow athletic director Frankie Arnhart says.

When the sea ice is near shore, Arnhart hires gun-slinging maintenance men to sweep the area clear of bears before game time.

"The polar bear patrol goes all around the area to make sure it's safe," he said. "But when activity is on the field, no bear has ever approached."

If a polar bear happened to get too curious and approached spectators, Arnhart said the guards would shoot rubber bullets to scare it off.

There are no bleachers surrounding the field, and many spectators watch from the safety of toasty vehicles.

The Whaler-blue artificial turf is protected by a chain-link fence.

'IT'S GOING TO BE COLD'

If only there was a dome too.

The playoff game would be Oct. 4, when the average temperature in Barrow is a frosty 21 degrees, according to the National Weather Service there. Depending on prevailing winds off the Beaufort Sea, the mercury could dip lower.

The all-time low on that day was recorded in 1931 when temperatures hit a bone-chilling minus 12.

Schreckenghost said there is no ASAA rule that would postpone a football game because of cold.

The only rules regarding temperatures are for outdoor hockey (a game can't start if it's colder than minus 20), cross-country running (a race can't start if it's minus 10 or below) and cross-country skiing (a race can't start if it's minus 4 or below).

But now that the 6-0 Whalers have a competitive team after just two seasons of varsity, Schreckenghost said a football rule could be created.

"You just don't anticipate playing football in October in Barrow," he said.

The good news for the Whalers and their first-round opponent -- most likely the Houston Hawks -- is snow shouldn't be a factor. The record snowfall in Barrow for Oct. 4 is a measly 1.6 inches set in 1969.

"We generally get a trace of snow that time of year," said Dave Anderson of the National Weather Service in Barrow. "Nothing really stays until the last half of the month."

On Monday afternoon, the sun was shining outside Anderson's office and the temperature was in the high 30s. He called it "comfortable."

Whalers quarterback Albert Gerke said playing in sub-freezing temperatures should be a home-field advantage. But even he is looking realistically at how extreme conditions might be.

"No matter what, it's going to be cold," said the junior, who leads Alaska in passing yards and touchdowns. "It's going to be hard for both teams."

'THE FROZEN TUNDRA'

When Gerke was 8, he and his dad, Dave, traveled to the Lower 48 to attend his grandfather's funeral in Wisconsin. Along the way, they stopped at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers.

There wasn't a game that day, but still, Dave -- who grew up a Cheesehead -- wanted to show his son the place he considers professional football's shrine, the place memorialized in NFL Films as "The Frozen Tundra."

Dave said he never thought nine years later his son would suit up every weekend to play football on Barrow's own Frozen Tundra.

"I never thought they would ever put a football program together," Dave said.

Thanks to a plentiful football budget of $185,000 a year, the School District can afford to fly the Whalers around Alaska for away games.

Arnhart said hosting the playoff would be cheaper for the School District than playing it on the road, even though Barrow plans to buy 22 airline tickets for the visitors.

The investment in football is paying off, he said. School dropouts are down and attendance is up since the program started in 2006.

"The kids believe in themselves," he said. "It's been a dream season."

Find Kevin Klott online at adn.com/contact/kklott or call 257-4335.

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