In this chap­ter titled “Under­dog Meets Top Dog,” excite­ment builds as the Cubs reach the cham­pi­onship game, caus­ing a surge in tick­et demand from the South­ern Cal­i­for­nia deaf com­mu­ni­ty. How­ev­er, the lim­it­ed capac­i­ty of the CSDR home field leads admin­is­tra­tors to relo­cate the cham­pi­onship to John W. North High School, a venue that can accom­mo­date thou­sands. The Cubs face Faith Bap­tist, a school with a strong con­ser­v­a­tive Chris­t­ian back­ground, promis­ing a clash of iden­ti­ties.

Faith Bap­tist was estab­lished in 1963 and aims to pro­vide a moral edu­ca­tion along­side gen­er­al stud­ies, requir­ing stu­dents to engage in Bible study and prayer. Dis­ci­pline is evi­dent in their poli­cies, from groom­ing stan­dards to strict rules about lan­guage. The school main­tains an afford­able tuition of under $8,000, attract­ing a diverse stu­dent body, includ­ing White, Lati­no, and Asian students—many of whom are of Fil­ipino descent.

Coach Rob David­son, who has led Faith Baptist’s foot­ball team since 2006, bal­ances coach­ing with a high-pow­ered career in phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals. His ded­i­ca­tion is reflect­ed in the team’s suc­cess­ful decade, with a cur­rent record of 10–2 lead­ing into the cham­pi­onship. Faith Bap­tist boasts a large ros­ter and impres­sive ath­leti­cism, high­light­ed by stand­out play­ers like six-foot-eight tight end and six-foot-three quar­ter­back Luke Ras­mussen. Their speed adds to their advan­tage, par­tic­u­lar­ly with A.C. Swadling, dubbed “the Mis­sile,” known for his agili­ty and tack­ling abil­i­ty, and star run­ning back Park­er Mills, who bal­ances work in a Mal­ibu restau­rant with his ath­let­ic com­mit­ments.

In con­trast to the Cubs, who face chal­lenges and a los­ing streak, Faith Bap­tist prac­tices dili­gent­ly through­out Thanks­giv­ing week, keen to cap­i­tal­ize on their media-savvy oppo­nents and deter­mined to secure a deci­sive vic­to­ry in this under­dog ver­sus top dog matchup. The chap­ter encap­su­lates the antic­i­pa­tion sur­round­ing the cham­pi­onship game, set­ting the stage for a thrilling con­test between two dis­tinct cul­tures and philoso­phies in sports.