KFDM COOP Posted October 11, 2006 Report Posted October 11, 2006 http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=tundrapart2
Guest ECBucFan Posted October 11, 2006 Report Posted October 11, 2006 Playing in Barrow is all kinds of cool to Delta NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Historic game gives players a whole new perspective. By DANNY MARTIN Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Published: August 20, 2006 Last Modified: August 20, 2006 at 04:35 AM BARROW -- It was satisfying enough for Craig Cummings that he and his Delta Junction High football teammates registered their first victory of the season on Saturday afternoon. The Huskies senior linebacker, though, wasn't finished savoring a very special day in Barrow. As his Delta Junction teammates settled into their seats on the team bus, Cummings and Huskies assistant coach Sean Hogue walked down to the edge of the Arctic Ocean, where Cummings took a photo of the teal water and a cluster of icebergs floating near shore. Cummings didn't want to forget the experience and atmosphere of the first high school football game above the Arctic Circle and in the northernmost city in the United States. "It's awesome!," Cummings said. "You're playing football a hundred yards from the (Arctic) ocean and there's icebergs floating all over the place. It's not something everybody gets to see." Most of Barrow's population saw the hometown Whalers fall 34-0 to the Huskies, but the outcome was overshadowed by the fact that history occurred on a dirt football field that the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation formerly used to dry gravel for its construction business. The local Alaska Native corporation donated the field to the North Slope Borough School District. Twenty-two of the team's 45 players are Inupiat. There's no grass on the field -- or anywhere in Barrow -- and the facility offers no bleachers, no locker rooms and no scoreboard. The temperature Saturday was in the 30s, boosted by winds off the ocean that often held passes up in the air. There were a few snow flurries too. But the enthusiasm was incredible from a crowd that school district superintendent Trent Blankenship estimated at more 3,500 -- about 1,000 less than the population of the city. The spectators either surrounded the field and stood or sat on old utility poles, or watched from parked vehicles that sat in a line across the road from the field, and had the ocean in their rear-view mirrors. "I don't think it could have gone any better for a town having its first high school football game," Blankenship said. "The only thing better that could have happened was if our team had made fewer mistakes." The Whalers fumbled six times and lost four of them, including one that led to a 14-0 lead for Delta Junction in the second quarter. "The game was fun," said Barrow sophomore Cody Romine, a reserve quarterback, "but it was hard to give up the ball. We've got to stop fumbling." Barrow coach Mark Voss anticipated the miscues. Only four players among Barrow's 45 had significant experience in organized football. "They were nervous," he said. "It's a new thing, even when they were out here practicing against friends. When you get guys on the other side of the field in different-color uniforms, it's a whole different game." Voss, who was an assistant high school football coach in Arkansas 15 years ago before coming to Barrow to work as a middle school computer skills teacher, lauded a Delta squad whose defense contained Barrow on sweeps and held the Whalers to 55 yards total offense. Delta had nearly four times that, sparked by senior running back Sam Tappen's 82 yards rushing on eight carries, with a 7-yard run at 2:55 of the first quarter for the first score in the northernmost football game in the nation. "You've got to give it to Delta, they played a good game and they played like gentleman," Voss said. "I have to say that if it hadn't been for big mistakes on six or seven plays, we'd been better off. "Other than that, our kids showed confidence and they saw some things they need to get better at, and we coaches saw some things we need to get better at." Senior tailback Quinn Carroll led the Whalers with 35 yards on 15 carries. Delta Junction first-year head coach Ed Wilburn can relate to Barrow's growing pains because he was the Huskies' defensive coordinator when Delta Junction began varsity football in 2004. "We went through the same thing, trying to teach some guys the simple things," Wilburn said. Barrow, which is scheduled for four games this year, is slated to join the seven-team Greatland Conference next year. "We know what we're up against. "We learned what it's going to be like in every game and we know what we have to do," said Barrow senior quarterback Jeremiah Lambrecht. "But there was nothing better than being out here today." Delta junior quarterback Calvin Fellman was nervous, but not because of the historic aspect of the game. Rather, he was facing a Barrow defensive line that included 315-pound sophomore Nate Neakok and junior John Lambrecht, a 6-foot-4, 345-pound presence. "I was personally nervous because they were a big team and they're a good team," said Fellman. "Once we got out there and started executing our plays, I calmed down and we took control." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daily News-Miner reporter Danny Martin can be reached at [email protected]. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Delta Junction 7 21 0 6 -- 34 Barrow 0 0 0 0 -- 0 First Quarter Delta Junction -- Tappin 7 run (Pflugrad kick), 2:55. Second Quarter Delta Junction -- Fellman 4 run (Pflugrad pass from Fellman), 7:20. Delta Junction -- Fellman 2 run (kick blocked), 4:00. Delta Junction -- Bunselmeier 15 run (Pflugrad kick), :00. Fourth Quarter Delta Junction -- Schiler 22 pass from Fellman (kick failed), 7:12. Delta Junction Barrow First Downs 5 4 Rushes-Yards 29-140 31-29 Passing yards 57 26 Passes 7-16-0 2-9-2 Punts 2-26.5 1-14 Fumbles-Lost 3-1 6-4 Penalties-Yards 8-70 10-46 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING -- Delta Junction: Tappin 8-82, Bunselmeier 8-49, Fellman 7-16, Pflugard 1-4, A. Miller 1-(-4), Gebauer 2-(-5), Echo-Hawk 2-(-2). Barrow: Carroll 15-35, Fotukava 7-10, Lambrecht 3-(-4), Hope 1-(-2), Romine 3-(-8), Sanders 1-(-2), Edwards 1-0. PASSING -- Delta Junction: Fellman 7-16-0-57, Echo-Hawk 0-0-0-0. Barrow: Lambrecht 2-9-2-26, Fotukava 0-1-0-0, Romine 0-0-1-0. RECEIVING -- Delta Junction: Tappin 4-22, Shiler 1-22, Pflugard 1-9, Falbo 1-4. Barrow: Gerke 1-19, Voss 1-7.
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