DENVER (KDVR) — In the neighborhoods surrounding Monarch High School, a community continues to heal. 

Just over a year after the Marshall Fire, homes are finally being rebuilt in a slow process that has impacted everyone in Louisville.

“In my school, there are 600 kids who were either long- or short-term displaced from their homes,” Kathy Packard said.

Packard is a science teacher at Monarch and said the community has been desperate for something to rally around, and the varsity girls basketball team provided just that.

The team finished the season 26-1, earning one final game this weekend. 

Saturday, thousands filled the Denver Coliseum for the State Championship game, to see Monarch square off against Grandview High School. 

“The fact that our girls are here and the whole community is here is really bringing the whole community together in a way that is really positive in a way that we haven’t had in a while,” Packard said.

Head coach Mike Blakely said nobody on the team lost their home in the fire, but every single player knows someone who did.

“Their house may not have burned down but they walk out their backyard and there’s 11 other houses that did burn down,” he said. “To be able to still stick with basketball, with each other, you can’t say enough about how great those kids are.”

Grandview would end up winning the game 38-28, but Blakely says it doesn’t diminish the accomplishment of his team.

“We’re proud of our community and our community’s proud of us, and that feels like a really good relationship,” he said.