A championship football game. The crisp, autumn air. Feelings of nervous tension, anticipation and excitement among the players on the field. And of course, the roar of the crowd. These are unmistakable characteristics of high school football in Southern California—but for the players on one particular team, there is no roar, only silence. California School for the Deaf, Riverside (CSDR) is a school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, which includes the football team and the entire coaching staff. Before this year, CSDR never had a football team reach a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championship game in the school’s 68-year history, and had never even won a playoff game at all until 2019. But in the just-concluded season, the Cubs reached the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 8-man championship game. They lost to Canoga Park’s Faith Baptist on Nov. 26 in the title game and missed out on a perfect season, instead …