In Chap­ter 14, titled “Aval­on,” under hazy blue skies, the Cubs’ coach­ing staff leads twen­ty-one play­ers dressed in white jer­seys aboard the **Star­ship Express**, a fer­ry tak­ing them from Long Beach to San­ta Catali­na Island for a piv­otal semi­fi­nal game in the South­ern Cal­i­for­nia cham­pi­onship. The fer­ry ride, filled with excite­ment and noise, halts any mean­ing­ful con­ver­sa­tion, yet the play­ers com­mu­ni­cate enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly through sign lan­guage.

Onboard with the Cubs are news crews from var­i­ous tele­vi­sion net­works, adding to the pres­sure as they are deter­mined to show­case their skills and prove they are a strong team, despite feel­ing media fatigue due to repet­i­tive inter­views. The Cubs, who had a long trav­el and faced chal­lenges, were met by the Aval­on’s coach, Nick Morones, who has seen suc­cess with his pre­vi­ous­ly unde­feat­ed mid­dle school team. He awaits the arrival of the deaf team with a plan to uti­lize Avalon’s home-field advan­tage, which he attrib­ut­es to the island’s unique atmos­phere and the phys­i­cal nature of his play­ers.

Aval­on is bustling with enthu­si­asm, hav­ing heard about the Cubs, who are viewed as a remark­able team. The local com­mu­ni­ty pre­pares for a fierce com­pe­ti­tion, invig­o­rat­ed by the Cubs’ pres­ence on the island. As game time approach­es, the set­ting at the small sta­di­um, sur­round­ed by palm trees, is pic­turesque, with local sup­port­ers present, includ­ing moth­ers cre­at­ing per­son­al cheers for their sons.

The game begins with the Cubs strug­gling ini­tial­ly against Avalon’s aggres­sive defense, yet they soon find their rhythm and over­turn their for­tunes. After a series of turnovers and self-inflict­ed mis­takes by Aval­on, the Cubs surge ahead. Despite a set­back in the sec­ond quar­ter, the Aval­on’s deter­mi­na­tion leads to a revi­tal­ized per­for­mance fol­low­ing half­time, result­ing in a sur­pris­ing come­back.

How­ev­er, despite Avalon’s resilience, the game con­cludes with the Cubs tri­umphant at 62–51. Post-game, an emo­tion­al moment unfolds as Aval­on’s play­ers acknowl­edge their defeat and show respect for their oppo­nents. Felix Gon­za­les, one of the Cubs, express­es his pride in being deaf and reflects pos­i­tive­ly on the game, declar­ing it his favorite of high school. The chap­ter illus­trates both the spir­it of com­pe­ti­tion and the per­son­al tri­umphs expe­ri­enced through­out the match.