Barrow Whalers season opener, part 5 of 5: Fran Tate treats victorious whalers to hamburgers at Pepe's North of the Border Mexican Restaurant

Fran Tate, the lendary founder and owner of Pepe's North of the Border Mexican Restaurant who once handed Johnny Carson the gigantic ivory penis bone of a walrus, known here as an oosik and then told him what he was holding, invited the Whalers to come to her restaurant for free hamburgers - as she always does when they win.

Joash Tiflin entered looking good in his Mickey Mouse hat.

Lawrence Kaleak and Trace Hudson did a little victory celebration dance.

Fran entered to see how many whalers still needed a hamburger. Several did who had already eaten one. I blew this picture, but I will use it anyway.

Sitting opposite Mickey Mouse is Emmanuel Samuelu, whose blood is Samaon, Ulu Tuai, whose family originated in Tonga and Robert Brulette, Alaska Native.

Jessie Sanchez had recovered enough to happily join in the feast,

Micah Adams accepts his plate.

Adrian Panigeo, dining victoriously at Pepe's.

When Ben Jones received his second burger, one would not have known he had already eaten one. Dougie Kanayurak has cleared his plate, save for two pickle slices.

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Barrow Whalers season opener, part 4 of 5: The game is fought to its conclusion

Okay, folks, I was supposed to have all this done before lunchtime, because I have many other things to do this afternoon and tonight. So I must hurry along with minimal commentary; I cannot waste time writing excess verbiage or hyperbole, I cannot throw out words willy-nilly. If a word doesn't need to be used to tell the story, then I must discipline myself, just as a football player must discipline himself and I must avoid that word and all such words, because they are unnecessary and if they are unnecessary and I have little time and I do not need them, then why I should I waste my time as a writer and yours as reader?*

So I will get right to it. Benson carries the ball, as the Wolverine defense comes after him.

He eludes the Wolverine defense.

But it is a tough game, and the Wolverine defense fights hard.

With the wind behind him, Benson throws a pass.

It is close. The pass bounces off the end of the fingers of James Snow as Wolverine defenders unsuccessfully try to snatch it from him. 

After the Wolverines intercept a pass, they score themselves - and they go for two extra points and get them. This gives them the lead, 8-6.

Coach Houston gives some instruction on the sidelines.

After Adrian Panigeo makes the intital contact, Emmanuel Samuelu helps him bring down the tackle. Panigeo's hit can be seen in the slide show linked at the bottom.

During what proved to be a critical moment in the game, I was focusing my camera upon Mia, Jay, and Jimeniz Sanchez, who were growing very animated. The cause of their excitement was the fact that their son and brother, Jessie, had just sacked the wolverin quarterback in the Whaler's end zone for a two point safety.

During what proved to be a critical moment in the game, I was focusing my camera upon Jay and Mia Sanchez and their daughter, Jimeniz, who were growing quite animated. The cause of their excitement was the fact that their son and brother, Jessie, was sacking the Wolverine quarterback in the Whaler's end zone for a two point safety.

This tied score is now tied, 8-8. Emmanuel Samuelu and Ben Jones celebrate.

What the Sanchez's see soon after is not something they like. Their son, Jessie, takes a late hit from the opposing quarter back that he sacked and gets hurt. He limps off the field, hurting with a possible hamstring and takes a seat upon an ice pack. 

Jessie Sanchez sits on the ice pack. 

The game continues. On a fourth down punt, Benson snatches the ball from the wind and runs in for a touch down. Again, the two point conversion fails. The whalers now lead, 14 - 8. There is just over two minutes left to play.

The Wolverines try to make a go of it, but once again the Whaler defense comes through. Trace Hudson does his job.

And then the game is over. The Whalers celebrate.

After the usual handshakes, the Whalers invite the Wolverines - who have, indeed, learned to respect them as a real football team, to join them for a prayer. They do. I think the respect is mutual, at this point.

As he fights off the pain, Sanchez is helped off the field by Brody Woods and Robert Brulette. Yet, he is happy, for the Whalers have won their first game.

*After I wrote the first paragraph, I did a save and then hurried on as fast as I could to the end. I then did another save, but encountered a Squarespace glitch that wiped out every word that I had written from the first paragraph on, so I had to scroll back up and do it all over again.

That's how life goes when one gets in a hurry.

Now I really must hurry on part 5. I bet I can get it done quick.

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Barrow Whalers season opener, part 3 of 5: Halftime - cheerleaders dance in the wind, ball players hear words spoken inside the bus

At half time, the cheerleaders dash onto the astro-turf to perform for the entertainment of the crowd. 

The team, meanwhile, had gone to the bus to receive their half-time briefing from the coaches. That's Adrian Panegeo, number 15, leaning against the window.

I go in to take a few pictures. The bus is not idling, the heat is not on, but the body heat of the Whalers combined with the moisture of their breath and sweat cause condense as fog upon the cold glass of my lens.

What I am to do?

First, take advantage of the special effects...

Second, pull out a lens cloth and keep wiping the fog away until it sort of stays away. I then find Coach Campbell telling the players that this is no time for feel good talk. In football, a six-point lead is a hair thin lead. They need to go back out there, sharpen up and play harder and smarter ball.

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Barrow Whalers football season opener, part 2 of 5: First half - the flag flies, one touchdown is made, no extra points

I, as I am certain is true for just about every Alaskan and for many others in our nation as well, am rather distracted right now by the tragic news out of the Tikchik Lakes, just north of Dillingham, where Senator Ted Stevens and several others have been killed in a plane crash. My condolences to all those who now most deeply mourn this loss inflicted upon us all by this crash.

As you can see, the warm weather had disappeared and Barrow had become Barrow once again. It was a 30 - 30 day: wind in the 30's, temperature in the 30's. "This is our home," says Coach Voss, "It's what we have to play in all the time. Nobody else faces it like we do."

Except, of course, for the visiting teams, who may find it even tougher.

"It certainly isn't a disadvantage to us," Voss agrees. 

And this could well be the warmest home game of this eight week season. The final home game will be September 22, a date by which one used to know with certainty that snow would cover the tundra and ice would coat the lakes and lagoons. This is no longer certain, but odds are it will be a very chilly game.

But never forget that those who live here at the Top of the World also live in the United States and on this day, Barrow's cheerleading squad stood bravely in the chill wind, gripped the flag and joined in the singing of the national anthem.

Those cheerleaders clearly visible in the picture include Joanne Akootchook, Nicole Hope, Khayla Vigo and Camille Dacanay.

With the wind behind the whalers, quarterback Eddie Benson kicked off to start the game.

The ball was down inside the 20 yard line. South Anchorage tried hard to fight there way toward Whaler territory, but the Whalers opened with a wall-like defense that the Wolverines found hard to penetrate.

Whaler Jacob Harris gets in on the tackle.

Soon, the Whalers have the ball. 

Eddie Benson sprints past defenders toward he hopes will be an opening.

Benson looks for a receiver. With the wind at over thirty, it would prove to be not a good passing day, but as a junior, Benson has many games ahead of him and Coach Voss expresses confidence that he will be a strong force to be reckoned with, both this year and next.

Running back Adrian Panigeo sprints toward the goal line and gains several yards, putting his team close to a scoring position.

Fullback Joe Burke takes advantage of his blockers and punches his way over the goal line for the first touchdown of the day. The coaches did not feel that this was the day they wanted to initiate a kicking game, either for extra points or field goals, and chose to go for two. The effort failed, leaving the score at Barrow Whalers 6, South Anchorage Wolverines, 0.

Clancy Itta cheers happily. His oldest granddaughter, Anissa, one of the three children of Clancy's daughter, Natasha, who is married to Nehemiah Houston, son of coach Houston, is not quite so pleased. Anissa's grandmother, Marie Itta, explained that she had been in the car with Anissa with the big, furry, wolverine mascot from South Anchorage suddenly appeared at the window, peeked in at her and frightened her terribly.

The game continues. As Coach Voss looks on from the sidelines, Benson dashes into the wind and looks for a receiver.

Benson finds that in football as in life there is opposition in all things.

Soon, the ball is back in the posession of the Wolverines. As before, they keep encountering a solid wall of Whalers and fail to threaten.

But, once the ball return to the Whalers, they, too, are stopped before they can return to scoring position. 

Soon, the Wolverines again had the ball but again were stopped by the Whalers. Trace Hudson made this tackle.

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Barrow Whalers football season opener part 1 of 5: Pregame - the whalers suit up, discuss strategy, pysch themselves up then venture out into a cold, stiff, Arctic wind

After suiting up on the morning of the first game of the season, the Barrow Whalers football team walks to the far end of the building to gather for a pre-game meeting.

They listen as coach Brian Houston, a member of the coaching staff headed by Mark Voss, discusses strategy and attitude.

Coach Bob Cambell demonstrates blocking technique.

Afterward, Jessie Sanchez, who is also a long-time member of the Barrow Eskimo Dancers, gets a little one-on-one time from Campbell.

After the meetings, they return to the changing room, where Ben Jones gets his ankles taped.

Darius Samuelu gets his wrists taped.

Ready for grid-iron combat.

Before they head to the bus for the three mile drive to Cathy Parker field, the players join together for a team prayer.

They listen as Coach Voss gives them some final words of encouragement. He tells them that there have been signs that their opponents, the JV team of South Anchorage, a high school with six times the number of students of Barrow High, does not consider them to be a real football team and does not hold them with much respect.

"They will respect you when this game is over," he says.

As the players enter the bus, they shout out their battle cries.

Then, as instructed by Coach Voss, they ride in silence to the field, each going into his own head and soul to pyschologically ready themselves for the game.

Cathy Parker Field, named for the Florida woman who was so impressed when she learned how Barrow Whalers had started a team four years ago but had to play on a hard, gravelly surface atop permafrost, that she raised the money necessary to purchase astro-turf and to build Barrow a real field.

The unusually warm weather that Barrow had enjoyed just two days before was gone now. The temperature was in the mid-30's and the wind blew hard from the north, right off the Chukchi Sea, at over 30 mph. As the team did their warmups, Coach Houston gave Ben Jones a little help to stretch and limber up his muscles.

The cheerleaders arrived. Soon, it would be game time.

I am going to do something a little different with this series of five posts that I pulled the pictures into late last night and early this morning before going to bed. I will post them all this morning, but before I continue I am going to go to Pepe's, eat some breakfast and take care of a few tasks.

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note: the slide show also has images not included in the above narrative.