The drum thumps. The chant starts. “Hearts.” Hundreds clap in unison.

Over and over, faster and faster. Thump. “Hearts.” Clap. It’s the heartbeat of a fandom that has enjoyed this inaugural Portland Hearts of Pine season. Sunday night, the Hearts played their USL League One semifinal in Spokane, Washington. Watch parties were held all over Portland, the biggest at the State Theater.

Thump. “Hearts.” Clap.

Thirty years ago, days after I graduated from the University of Maine, I attended a Faith No More concert at the State. It was loud, face-melting American rock n’ roll. The next night, as legend has it, Mel Torme stopped his show when he was hit by plaster falling from the ceiling. We shut down the Velvet Fog.

I’ve been to the State numerous times in the ensuing 30 years, and that Faith No More show remained the loud benchmark, until Sunday night, when Dirigo Union, the Hearts of Pine fan club, and other fans, took the place over.

“Just the fact that they involved the fans from the beginning, the fans fell in love with them,” said Naneen Chace-Ortiz, who attended the State Theater watch party with her husband, Mike. “We loved them before it was a team, when it was an idea.”

Zoram Blancas-Ruiz plays trumpet in the Valentine Band, Dirigo Union’s musical arm. Before he joined the band, he hadn’t played trumpet in 25 years. It took him a few games to get his wind back, for his lips not to ache after playing throughout an entire game. It was totally worth it.

“It’s a party every time they play,” Blancas-Ruiz said.

None of this should be a surprise to anybody. This team came built with a enthusiastic fan base. The Hearts of Pine led the USL League One in attendance this season, averaging more than 5,700 per home game, and last month set the league’s single game attendance record when 6,440 fans crammed themselves into Fitzpatrick Stadium for a 6-1 win over Spokane.

On the secondary ticket market, seats for a Hearts game went for more than seven times their face value.

At the State Theater, Mike and Naneen hung the custom flag they had made from the barrier keeping fans from the stage, where the movie screen projected the game. The flag bears the team’s logo in the middle. “Westbrook Hearts” is in the upper left corner, “On Tour” is in the upper right, because they plan to bring the flag overseas to games.

In the lower left, their names, Naneen and Mike. In the lower right “UTFH!” We’ll let you figure out what that stands for.

Fifteen minutes before the game started, a highlight video was shown and the band played. The crowd sang “Ballad of the 20th Maine,” the Ghost of Paul Revere song that has become a staple of Hearts games,

“Stand fast! Ye are the boys of Maine.”

The only time the room goes quiet is when Spokane scores in the 44th minute to take a 1-0 lead. The silence is abrupt and jarring, and doesn’t last long.

Across town at the Portland Zoo, the Bayside bar that has been a Hearts fan favorite all season, fans crammed inside the main bar and the shed to stay out of the rain to watch the game. When Portland ties it 1-1 on Ollie Wright’s goal in the 52nd minute, there’s a brief delay. Did he score? He did.

Then, euphoria.

The season ended the brutal way soccer seasons often do, in penalty kicks. At the Portland Zoo, there was brief shock, then a cheer, a thank you for a brilliant first season. 

Thump. “Hearts.” Clap.

Stand fast! Ye are the boys of Maine.