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Junior quarterback Albert Gerke threw a pair of touchdown passes in the second half as the unbeaten Barrow Whalers achieved a record victory with a 24-19 decision over the Homer Mariners in Saturday afternoon’s nonconference high school football game at Cathy Parker Field in Barrow.

Barrow, after trailing 19-12 at halftime, went to 5-0 for the first time since starting its program three years ago.

“It was one of those things where we saw some pretty good tempo things later in the ball game,” Barrow head coach Mark Voss said by telephone. “Stuff that we’re hoping to reinforce and go with over the next few weeks.”

Gerke completed 13 of 23 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns, including a 9-yard strike to Justin Sanders in the third quarter and a 12-yard pass to Cody Romine in the fourth. He also found Austin Fishel on a 19-yard pass in the second quarter to give the Whalers a 12-6 lead.

Gerke, who’s the state’s third-ranked quarterback, also threw two interceptions Saturday. For the season, he’s 52-for-104 for 790 yards with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Robert Vigo had an 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter for Barrow, tying the game at 6.

The Whalers’ win was dampened by a knee injury to junior offensive tackle/nose guard Colton Blankenship in the third quarter. Voss said Blankenship’s status won’t be known until later in the week.

“He’s a big leader,” Voss said, “and he’s a very good role model for our younger kids.”

Homer, 1-4 overall, frustrated Barrow in the first half with a wedge rushing attack, leading to a game-high 120 yards on six carries for David Craig.

Craig recorded the game’s first score on a 26-yard run and added a 6-yard burst in the second quarter. Quarterback Cole Jacobsen connected with Justin Frink for an 18-yard touchdown pass in the second for the Mariners’ other score.

Barrow, ranked second among small schools in the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network Poll, can clinch its first postseason berth with a win over the Monroe Catholic Rams in a Greatland Conference game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Kiwanis Field.

Monroe thumped the Seward Seahawks 32-0 in a Greatland contest in Seward on Saturday afternoon. No information was available on the game.

Barrow is 3-0 in conference play and Monroe is 2-2 conference and 2-3 overall.

In another Greatland game, Nikiski senior Beau Calderwood became the first running back this season to surpass the 1,000-yard mark, as he rushed 28 times for 156 yards and scored three touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ 42-28 home win over the Valdez Buccaneers.

Calderwood has 119 carries for 1,057 yards and 16 touchdowns this year for the Bulldogs (3-0, 3-2).

In Cook Inlet Conference action, the South Anchorage Wolverines, ranked first among the state’s large schools, downed the Service Cougars 14-7 at the Anchorage Football Stadium and the host Dimond Lynx took a 16-9 win over the Chugiak Mustangs.

The Soldotna Stars, the state’s No. 1-ranked small schools team, ran their overall record to 4-0 with a 65-6 rout of the Houston Hawks in a Northern Lights Conference game in Soldotna.

The Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears fell 35-10 to the Lake Oswego Lakers in a nonconference game in Portland, Ore. The Crimson Bears have lost three in a row after riding a 13-game winning streak that goes back to last year’s large schools state championship season.

Juneau-Douglas’ junior varsity squad rolled to a 44-14 win over the host Sitka Wolves in a rescheduled game in Sitka on Saturday morning. The game was originally scheduled for Friday night but was suspended because the Crimson Bears couldn’t fly out of Juneau due to fog.