An Alaskan will play in this year's Super Bowl, and he'll come from Sunday's NFC championship game in Chicago.
The contest between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, who are storied rivals in the NFC Central Division, features Packers left guard Daryn Colledge from North Pole and Bears cornerback Zack Bowman from Anchorage.
Colledge, a lineman, wears No. 73 and Bowman, a defensive back, wears No. 35.
Colledge and Bowman are each trying to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in their careers.
The 6-foot-4, 308-pound Colledge has played five seasons for the Packers, who selected him in the second round and 47th overall in the 2006 NFL draft. The former All-American left tackle from Boise State is one of eight players from Alaska to be drafted by NFL team and none have been drafted higher than Colledge.
Colledge started in all 18 games this season, including a 21-16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in a wild-card playoff game Jan. 9 and last Saturday's 48-21 divisional victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
Colledge, 28 and a 2000 North Pole High School graduate, has started in 76 career games and played in 80. He has registered one tackle this season.
Bowman, 6-1 and 193 pounds, is in his third season with the Bears. He has 96 tackles in 29 career games, and in 12 games this season, he has 28 tackles and one fumble recovery.
Bowman, 26 and a 2003 Bartlett High graduate, in 2009 led Chicago with a career-high six interceptions that ranked fourth in the NFC.
Bowman was drafted by Chicago in the fifth round, 142nd overall, in 2008. He was a Junior College All-American at New Mexico Military Institute and a standout at the University of Nebraska from 2005-07.
He was the 2002 Alaska High School Football Player of the Year and the 2002-03 Anchorage Daily News High School Athlete of the Year. Bowman and current Miami Heat point guard Mario Chalmers were teammates on Bartlett's 2002-03 Class 4A state champion boys basketball team.
Sunday's game marks the first time two Alaskans have played in the same conference finale, but it's not the first time two players from the 49th state have met in the postseason. The 1999 Super Bowl included Denver Broncos offensive guard Mark Schlereth from Anchorage and Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Travis Hall from Kenai. Denver won 34-19, giving Schlereth his third Super Bowl ring.
Schlereth, whose 12-year career (1989-2000) included titles with the Washington Redskins in 1992 and the Broncos in 1998 and 1999, is the only Alaskan to win a Super Bowl.
By DANNY MARTIN
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner