Monday night, at the Washington City Council meeting, some may have taken note of an unusual sight. There, on the dais, was Washington Mayor Mac Hodges, presiding over the meeting wearing a Washington High School ball cap.

All this week, there have been signs of the Pam Pack — on cars, in the windows of local business, on the clothing purchased and worn long ago, now making a comeback as a state championship game looms on the horizon.

This week, Beaufort County Schools sent out a request to the community: print out a sign declaring support for the WHS Pam Pack, take a picture of yourself, your family, your friends, whomever, and send it in to become part of a video montage documenting the rise of the 2014 Pam Pack football team and showing the support of the community in its run toward glory.

And there has been support. Overwhelming support, actually. According to Beaufort County Schools staff, hundreds of images have flooded in, showing the smiling faces of people dressed in WHS gear, bearing signs of support: “I Believe!”, “You Gotta Believe. It’s a Pam Pack Thing!”, “I Support the Pam Pack!” They came from city staff, from firefighters, from children yet to be a part of the Pam Pack and those long graduated.

It’s been a long time coming, this second run at a state championship. The last one happened 58 years ago. In 58 years, thousands of teens have made their way through the halls of Washington High School — many of them are still here, their Pam Pack pride never far from the surface. In 58 years, tens of thousands of young men and women have donned their blue and white and screamed themselves hoarse on chilly fall nights, cheering on a team that never made it as far as the Pam Pack team of 1956 did; as far as the Pam Pack of 2014 has.

The current freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors of Washington High School are fortunate to witness their team’s rise to high school sports fame. On Saturday, the Pam Pack will play for them, but they won’t only be playing for them — because they will also play for every single person who still claims Washington High School as their own. They will play for Pam Pack football’s barren years over the past six decades, those with nary a win. They will play for the winning teams of the past, the ones that stopped just short of being great. They will play for every player who’s ever stepped foot on the field wearing the blue and white, and now gray. They will play for that 1956 team that had a championship within its grasp. Most importantly, they will play for their team, for themselves and one another.

And behind them, are the echoes of the past. Behind them, is the support of an entire community.

Go Pack.