A CLASSIC AMERICAN UNDERDOG STORY

FOR 70 YEARS THE TEAM AT CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF IN RIVERSIDE COULDN'T WIN A SEASON. THEN THEY WON TWO-BACKTO-BACK. GET TO KNOW THE INSPIRING CUBS

- LIZZIE HYMAN

With minutes left before halftime in the California School for the Deaf in Riverside's 2022 championship football game, Coach Keith Adams and his players had come from behind to gain a narrow lead-and pushed for more. Quarterback Trevin Adams, the coach's oldest son, threw a desperate pass downfield-and right into the arms of wide receiver Jory Valencia, his childhood best friend, who broke for the end zone. Starting with that touchdown dash, the Cubs, having honed their chemistry and system of football-specific sign language over countless hours, began steamrolling their way into history as the first deaf football team in the state to be crowned champions. "We showed that we're not only equal to others," Trevin, 19, says now of their 80-26 win. "We're better."

After that first championship in their division, the Cubs, who play a mix of hearing and deaf teams, won a second in 2023 and have no intention of slowing down in the new season, which started on Aug. 30. "We're here to keep that streak going, to honor that legacy," says 17-year-old Kaden Adams, who stepped into the role of first-string quarterback since brother Trevin graduated. Their wins turned the boys into community heroes-at one point, thousands packed the stands-and attracted a national spotlight. New York Times correspondent Thomas Fuller was so inspired, he gave up his job to document the Cubs' rise in a new book, The Boys of Riverside, out now. "It was so quintessentially American," says Fuller, 54, of being struck by the team's perseverance. "A team that had endured seven decades of losing seasons was now beating the pants off of all their opponents."