Barrow High School, the only high school football team located above the Arctic Circle, are Alaska’s 2017 Division III champs after a 20-14 win over Homer Saturday.
Before we go any further, I’d like to point out that at the end of last year, the community, the northernmost in America restored its original name from Barrow to Utqiagvik. So for the rest of the story, we’ll honor the Whalers by using Utqiagvik.
After Homer jumped-out to a 6-0 lead on Justin Sumption’s first quarter touchdown, Utqiagvik’s Ben Heather scored on the next drive to give the Whalers a 7-6 lead. It was the first of two touchdowns for Heather, who ran for 134 yards.
The championship wasn’t decided until Utqiagvik stopped Homer at the goal line as time expired.
The win avenged a regular season loss by the Whalers to Homer 26-14.
Utqiagvik finishes 7-2, while Homer ends 2017 with an 8-2 record.
