Chap­ter 6: On a Roll begins with the scene of high school foot­ball teams siz­ing up their oppo­nents dur­ing warm-ups. The Cubs, con­sid­ered a small team, lacked the impos­ing physique of many of their com­peti­tors, espe­cial­ly due to pan­dem­ic-relat­ed restric­tions on weight train­ing. Despite their phys­i­cal short­com­ings, they com­pen­sat­ed with incred­i­ble fear­less­ness and agili­ty, qual­i­ties that did not go unno­ticed by oppos­ing coach­es. Felix Gon­za­les, one of the stand­out play­ers, gained atten­tion for his excep­tion­al speed. Known for catch­ing kick­offs, shed­ding tack­les, and post­ing an impres­sive 4.6‑second 40-yard dash time, he proved that sheer speed and deter­mi­na­tion could make up for a lack of mus­cle.

Trevin Adams, anoth­er cru­cial play­er, approached every game with a fear­less mind­set. His “war­rior” men­tal­i­ty, as described by Coach Galvin Drake, was evi­dent in the way he bar­reled through defend­ers with pow­er and per­sis­tence. His aggres­sive run­ning style became a point of pride for his team, though it wor­ried his moth­er, Car­ol Adams, who fret­ted over her son’s safe­ty. Foot­ball dom­i­nat­ed the Adams fam­i­ly’s lives, from prac­tices to game analy­ses, and even Car­ol joked about being a “foot­ball wid­ow” due to the sport’s all-con­sum­ing nature. Despite the sac­ri­fices, Car­ol was the Cubs’ most loy­al sup­port­er, watch­ing with pride as her son show­cased his ath­leti­cism on the field.

Trevin’s skills as a quar­ter­back helped mask some of the Cubs’ weak­ness­es, par­tic­u­lar­ly their offen­sive line. Dur­ing one mem­o­rable game, he demon­strat­ed both elu­sive­ness and tough­ness by evad­ing mul­ti­ple defend­ers, prov­ing his abil­i­ty to lead under pres­sure. Cody Met­zn­er, known for his strength and aca­d­e­m­ic ambi­tion, also played a piv­otal role, intim­i­dat­ing oppo­nents with his brute pow­er. In a game against Hes­pe­ria Chris­t­ian, Cody’s phys­i­cal dom­i­nance was clear, mak­ing pow­er­ful tack­les that imme­di­ate­ly shift­ed the momen­tum in the Cubs’ favor. These key play­ers exem­pli­fied the heart and resilience of the team, show­ing that even with­out size, their col­lec­tive strength and dri­ve made them for­mi­da­ble oppo­nents.

As a team com­posed of deaf ath­letes, the Cubs faced unique chal­lenges in a world where most peo­ple relied on hear­ing. The bond between the play­ers cre­at­ed an unspo­ken cama­raderie, turn­ing the team into a tight-knit “broth­er­hood.” This shared expe­ri­ence made com­mu­ni­ca­tion effort­less and allowed the Cubs to func­tion as a well-oiled machine, no mat­ter the cir­cum­stances. Their abil­i­ty to com­mu­ni­cate beyond words gave them a sig­nif­i­cant advan­tage in the fast-paced world of high school foot­ball, where team­work and syn­chro­niza­tion are cru­cial for suc­cess.

Felix Gon­za­les, in par­tic­u­lar, under­stood the chal­lenges of com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Hav­ing pre­vi­ous­ly faced bar­ri­ers while play­ing on a hear­ing team, he knew first­hand how iso­lat­ing it could feel. When he trans­ferred to CSDR, he ini­tial­ly hes­i­tat­ed to join the foot­ball team but ulti­mate­ly found a sense of belong­ing. The instant com­mu­ni­ca­tion bond formed with Coach Adams and his team­mates made the deci­sion to stay easy, lead­ing to an unde­feat­ed sea­son for the Cubs. Felix, who had ini­tial­ly been unsure of his place, grew into a ver­sa­tile play­er who excelled in var­i­ous posi­tions. His lead­er­ship and adapt­abil­i­ty made him a key con­trib­u­tor to the team, and he quick­ly became a role mod­el for younger play­ers, show­ing them the pow­er of resilience, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and pas­sion for the sport.

This chap­ter illus­trates how the Cubs’ suc­cess wasn’t just about raw ath­leti­cism but also about the deep, unbreak­able bonds formed through shared expe­ri­ences. Each play­er, from Felix to Trevin to Cody, brought some­thing unique to the team. Their com­mit­ment, com­bined with their abil­i­ty to work togeth­er despite chal­lenges, pro­pelled the Cubs to vic­to­ries that many would have deemed impos­si­ble at first glance. Their jour­ney is a pow­er­ful reminder that team­work, heart, and deter­mi­na­tion can lead to suc­cess, no mat­ter the obsta­cles stand­ing in the way. Through their strug­gles and tri­umphs, the Cubs proved that being “on a roll” is not just about win­ning games—it’s about over­com­ing adver­si­ty and doing it togeth­er.