SANTA CLARA — Monday morning marked the first time most of the Paradise High football team’s coaches, players, cheerleaders and school administrators had seen each other since the Camp Fire swept through their town Thursday.

The team was supposed to play a first-round Northern Section playoff game Friday at home against Red Bluff, but the game was postponed in response to widespread damage the fire caused in Paradise. Red Bluff offered to let Paradise advance automatically and give the team an extra week to regroup for the semifinals, but Paradise ultimately conceded the game, effectively ending its 2018 season with an 8-2 record.

They were brought together at Chico’s Pleasant Valley High with a surprise gift from the San Francisco 49ers waiting for them — 68 tickets for the Niners’ Monday Night Football game against the New York Giants, and three Chico Unified School District buses to take them to the game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. After gathering inside PV and hearing speeches from Paradise High principal Loren Lighthall and Butte County Superintendent of Schools Tim Taylor, 35 players, all wearing their home football jerseys, 13 cheerleaders and 10 staff members boarded the buses and headed for the Bay Area.

“It’s awesome; I’m just glad I get to see all my football team and all my friends,” said Colby Cline, the Bobcats’ senior quarterback. “It’s a blessing to come together, and to go watch the Niners game together is awesome.”

While inside the school, Lighthall asked students and staff how many of them had lost their homes to the fire. All but a few people in the room raised their hands.

Everyone on the team is accounted for since evacuating, Paradise head coach Rick Prinz said, but they are now scattered staying with friends and family in the area. Their reunion Monday was exactly what many of them needed.

“It was very emotional,” said a teary-eyed Prinz.

“We have a message board, and they all have places to stay,” Prinz said. “They all got out, which is the most important thing … But everyone’s displaced. The devastation is incredible; you can’t wrap your mind around it.”

Taylor heard the news of Paradise conceding its playoff game over the weekend and wanted to do something for the team. He reached out to Jesse Lovejoy, director of 49ers EDU, which provides educational opportunities to students in the Bay Area and Northern California. Lovejoy and the Niners responded on Sunday morning with 68 tickets for the team. CUSD then provided buses and bus drivers to transport everyone to the game.

Paradise will stand with the 49ers team on the field during the national anthem. Paradise’s cheerleaders will also get to meet the 49ers Gold Rush cheer squad. Taylor said the team should expect some other surprises throughout the day.

#49ers GM John Lynch welcomes the Paradise High football team, which had to forfeit its playoff dreams because of fire devastation pic.twitter.com/ESFDDh3Kcu — Daniel Brown (@mercbrownie) November 13, 2018

“It’s just unreal to be with all my friends again,” said cheerleader Mariah Tolson. “Everyone’s home burned down. I thought I’d never see anyone again.”

Paradise will have another familiar face at the game Monday night. Shane Wallen, a 49ers strength and conditioning coach, grew up in Paradise and is an alumnus of PV High. His father’s house in Magalia burned down, and he has since started a GoFundMe page raising money for victims of the Camp Fire. The campaign has raised $19,142 of its $50,000 goal as of Monday afternoon.

On Monday, Wallen wrote on his Instagram page, “My heart is heavy for the people of Paradise and Butte County. But I am so excited to see every Paradise High School Varsity Football player(s) and cheerleader(s) at tonight’s Monday Night Game vs. the NY Giants! Let’s get this ‘W.'”

The team will return to PV Tuesday with the rest of Paradise High for somewhat of a fellowship, to see each other in person, as well as have some food and disperse supplies that students and families need. Pleasant Valley will be collecting supplies on campus from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday.

“These kids have a bigger job, in my opinion,” Taylor said. “It’s ‘go have some fun,’ but I think they’re going to realize … the whole nation is looking at this little town. They’re going to come back and be able share that love to (other) kids tomorrow night. I think that’s going to be a powerful moment.”

It is far too early to tell when and if Paradise can be repopulated. Students and school employees were happy to learn Friday that Paradise High survived the fire while many structures burned around it.

“There’s no place to go in Paradise when it gets dark,” Lighthall said. “The whole town closes down, except the high school, so that’s like the gathering place, that’s where people go. That it’s still there, it will become even more important for a gathering place, an icon and some place that people feel safe.”