In the chap­ter titled “Deaf Ver­sus Deaf,” the excite­ment builds as the River­side Cubs embark on a jour­ney to face their archri­vals, the Cal­i­for­nia School for the Deaf in Fre­mont. The set­ting estab­lish­es a back­drop of the long dri­ve along Inter­state 5, with a con­voy of stu­dent ath­letes ven­tur­ing into north­ern Cal­i­for­nia, cre­at­ing a vivid image of antic­i­pa­tion and rival­ry. This game marks the begin­ning of three con­sec­u­tive con­tests against deaf teams, pre­sent­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty for not only ath­let­ic com­pe­ti­tion but a chance to solid­i­fy River­side’s sta­tus as cham­pi­ons after being crowned nation­al deaf foot­ball cham­pi­ons in the pre­vi­ous sea­son.

The nar­ra­tive high­lights the jubi­la­tion felt by the play­ers, who are eager for the free­dom to engage in play­ful ban­ter on the field, some­thing often absent when fac­ing hear­ing teams. Each play­er rel­ish­es the vibran­cy of com­pet­ing against their deaf coun­ter­parts, envi­sion­ing a game filled with cama­raderie yet fierce rival­ry. Per­son­al sto­ries sur­face, illus­trat­ing the emo­tion­al stakes of the match, par­tic­u­lar­ly for Alexan­dero Morales, who recalls his own fam­i­ly ties to the strug­gle between the two schools.

The com­pet­i­tive ten­sion unfolds as Coach Adams reminds his play­ers of the his­toric loss­es to Fre­mont, instill­ing a sense of urgency and deter­mi­na­tion to turn the tide in their favor. The rival­ry is root­ed deeply in Cal­i­for­ni­a’s cul­ture, inter­twined with a his­tor­i­cal per­spec­tive show­cas­ing Fre­mon­t’s long­stand­ing pres­ence as the first school for the deaf in the state, in con­trast to River­side’s rel­a­tive­ly recent estab­lish­ment.

On the day of the game, both teams pre­pare with inno­v­a­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion strate­gies stem­ming from their shared deaf­ness, demon­strat­ing the evo­lu­tion of foot­ball tac­tics through the years. The chap­ter’s cli­max builds with the start of the match, reveal­ing the play­ers’ phys­i­cal prowess as the Cubs quick­ly estab­lish dom­i­nance on the field. They cap­i­tal­ize on every oppor­tu­ni­ty, ulti­mate­ly lead­ing to a resound­ing vic­to­ry over Fre­mont, affirm­ing Riverside’s claim over “Cal­i­for­nia.”

As the game con­cludes, the Cubs cel­e­brate with the cov­et­ed five-foot-tall tro­phy, a sym­bol of their tri­umph, now set to adorn their ath­let­ic facil­i­ty. The nar­ra­tive encap­su­lates not just a game but the spir­it of com­pe­ti­tion, com­mu­ni­ty, and the shared expe­ri­ence of being deaf ath­letes forg­ing their iden­ti­ty on the field.