New movie about winning California high school footbal team aims to inspire

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A new movie about a remarkable California football team aims to inspire audiences through a tale of triumph and tragedy.

"When the Game Stands Tall" tells the fact-based story of Northern California's De La Salle High School football team that enjoyed an unimaginable winning streak: 151 straight victories over 12 years. The streak is eventually broken. While everyone - from players to coaches to fans - struggle to deal with that, real tragedy soon strikes.

The coaches now have new lessons to teach the team: bad things happen, but when you get knocked down, you get back up again.

Jim Caviezel plays Coach Bob Ladoucer, a man of few words, but also a man who can easily get his message across.

Ladoucer "speaks the language from the heart and he does it in a calm way; and there is not a lot of calm in the world," Caviezel said. "He brings that to the individuals, but he lights a fire underneath them that you will get it done or there is going to be hell to pay."

Michael Chiklis co-stars as the team's assistant coach. The actor didn't have to do any research on this subject. He played high school football in Lowell, Mass., and was fortunate enough to have some great teachers, coaches and mentors along the way.

"Any successful person that you meet who's at any level of success in their life they can point to at least one if not a handful of mentors through the course of their life that changed inexorably the direction of their life," Chiklis said. "I can name a half dozen of them that absolutely is the reason I have success in my life. They taught me things. They helped me."

"When the Game Stands Tall" is in theaters on Friday.