Riverside Ca. on Nightline, Great Story! [Archive]

singularity

11-29-2005, 12:24 AM

I googled the story..it was posted on another forum: http://forums.surfline.com/showthread.php?t=25210

CSDR 52, Sherman Indian 0: It's a night of firsts for the unbeaten Cubs.

12:44 AM PST on Saturday, November 12, 2005

By MATT CALKINS / The Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE - In the past two years, the California School for the Deaf, Riverside football team has gotten used to being in the spotlight.
Performing under the lights, however, is a different matter.
But there the Cubs were Friday, playing a night game at home for the first time and rolling to a 52-0 San Joaquin League win over Riverside Sherman Indian to cap their first undefeated season.

Mark Zaleski / The Press-Enterprise
CSDR running back Alberto Martinez runs past Albert Ashiking of Sherman Indian while turning up field.

Running back Selwyn Abrahamson led CSDR with 174 yards and a TD on 11 carries. Teammate Jeremy Hawkins added 123 yards on 12 carries, and Alberto Martinez tallied 94 yards and three TDs on 12 carries.

Quarterback Mark Korn completed 5 of 8 passes for 115 yards and three TDs in front of a crowd of over 1,000.

After the game, CSDR's district superintendent Harold Kund signed and bellowed to the team, "You guys made history tonight!"

CSDR head coach Keith Adams was doused with ice water from a Gatorade cooler as a group of close to 200 people, most of whom were deaf, circled the team and cheered.

"I'm thrilled. The emotions are flying everywhere," CSDR lineman Bobby Neil said through an interpreter. "We've been thinking we could do this for a while, but I'm still shocked."

CSDR (10-0, 4-0 in league) never allowed Sherman Indian inside the Cubs' 30-yard line and led 42-0 at halftime. Last year, the Cubs beat Sherman Indian (2-7, 0-4) in week 10 to capture their first league title.

Their success prompted attention from CNN, Sports Illustrated and NBC, among others.

The interest seems equally prominent this season, as ABC reporter Martin Bashir was walking the sidelines Friday, gathering information for a piece slated to run later in the month.

But last year's squad was 9-2 and lost in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 13 playoffs.

This year, coaches and players expect something different.

"We're going to win," said an ecstatic Adams, who was standing with his hearing mother.

Martinez agreed.

"We're definitely going to get coach again," he said, referring to the Gatorade cooler.