In the chap­ter titled “Play­ing with Fire,” the nar­ra­tive unfolds on a sun­ny Fri­day after­noon in Lake Bal­boa, Cal­i­for­nia, as a yel­low school bus trans­ports the River­side Cubs high school foot­ball team to their cham­pi­onship game at Birm­ing­ham Com­mu­ni­ty Char­ter High School. Vic­to­ry Boule­vard, named for World War I sol­diers, leads them to the larg­er venue, as Faith Bap­tist, their oppo­nents, had won the right to host the cham­pi­onship but opt­ed for Birm­ing­ham due to its capac­i­ty.

Birm­ing­ham High, a famil­iar back­drop for var­i­ous media pro­duc­tions, boasts an illus­tri­ous list of alum­ni, set­ting an impor­tant stage for the Cubs, who have jour­neyed two hours from River­side. The team received a warm send-off from their stu­dent body as they embarked on their mis­sion, even with play­er Chris­t­ian Jimenez nurs­ing a frac­tured leg.

Upon arriv­ing, the Cubs encounter curi­ous Birm­ing­ham stu­dents, and they mar­vel at the stadium’s mod­ern facil­i­ties, a stark con­trast to their own home field. Their wait before the game begins includes watch­ing pri­vate jets take off, as afflu­ent locals depart for hol­i­day get­aways. Ten­sion builds as the Faith Bap­tist team arrives, met with intense stares from the Cubs—the visu­al embod­i­ment of deter­mi­na­tion to win.

Faith Bap­tist is con­fi­dent as they employ a strat­e­gy focus­ing on dom­i­nat­ing the line of scrim­mage and avoid­ing turnovers. In their lock­er room, a prayer under­scores their quest for vic­to­ry. Mean­while, coach Kei­th Adams reminds the Cubs to play with heart and tenac­i­ty.

As the game begins, Faith Bap­tist’s aggres­sive defense cre­ates ear­ly oppor­tu­ni­ties for the Cubs, who lever­age a unique offen­sive strat­e­gy aid­ed by their play­ers’ deaf­ness, allow­ing them to cap­i­tal­ize on Faith’s penal­ties. The Cubs’ dri­ving per­for­mance makes them ear­ly lead­ers with a touch­down and two-point con­ver­sion. Faith responds quick­ly, stay­ing with­in strik­ing dis­tance.

As the quar­ter pro­ceeds, ris­ing ten­sions reflect the pre­car­i­ous bal­ance of cham­pi­onship stakes, cul­mi­nat­ing in mis­takes that could cost either team dear­ly. With the score­board reveal­ing a tight game, the ques­tion lingers: would this cham­pi­onship end in dis­ap­point­ment for the Cubs? Their resolve is test­ed as they nav­i­gate the fran­tic pace of the match, under­scor­ing the desire for redemp­tion amidst fierce com­pe­ti­tion.