Ready for some prep football? Who do you root for?

High school football is an American institution, one that ushers in new dreams and hopes for a successful beginning to a new school year. 

Friday night games under the lights not only juice up young people who are “true to their school,” but the aura of the gridiron gurgles over to affect entire communities, especially small ones like ours. Active alumni and booster groups add fuel to the fire.\

Let us examine closer the three public high schools in Carteret County, N.C. 

Did you know that “Cougars,” the team nickname at Croatan High School, is the ninth most popular in the entire country? That is the assessment offered by MaxPreps, an affiliate of CBS Sports. A total of 682 American high schools have a cougar as a mascot.

 

West Carteret High School fans root for their “Patriots.” The nickname is shared by 388 high schools across the land, making it the 23rd most popular mascot choice, according to Jessica Learish of MaxPreps.

 

There are far fewer “Mariners,” she said. The East Carteret High School nickname is shared by just 14 other high schools in the country.

 

MaxPreps tell us the five most popular high school team nicknames (ranked in descending order) are “Eagles,” “Tigers,” “Bulldogs,” “Panthers” and “Wildcats.” 

Back in the day, before the consolidated schools of West Carteret and East Carteret were formed in the mid-1960s, there were classic rivalry games played between the Morehead City Eagles and the Beaufort Seadogs. 

(MaxPreps believes “Seadogs” has passed on from the endangered species list to become extinct as a high school level mascot.)

The Seadogs live on, however, as the official mascot of Beaufort Elementary School.

 

North Carolina has more than its share of “unique” high school nicknames, with two mascots ranking among the top 14 “strangest” in America, as compiled by Doug Samuels, content manager at FootballScoop.com. 

One of his top picks is the Cary High School “Imps.” An imp is defined as “a small, mischievous devil or sprite.” Imps rhymes with wimps. 

Samuels is also fond of Greensboro’s Grimsley High School “Whirlies,” shortened from “Whirlwind,” a purple tornado. (Sports teams were also known as “Whirlybirds” for a time.) 

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association says several schools have nicknames that appear to be unique to the state. Here are six that earn sports trivia bonus points: 

Gates County High School “Red Barons.” 

Concord High School “Spiders.”

 

Kernersville’s Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School “Villains.” 

Lejeune High School (aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune near Jacksonville) “Devil Pups.” Active Marines are nicknamed “Devil Dogs.” 

Greenville’s J.H. Rose High School “Rampants.” A rampant is a heraldic profile of a lion standing on its rear legs with front legs raised – a classic attack position.

 

Rocky Mount High School “Gryphons.” A gryphon is a mythological beast that featured the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Its back was covered with feathers, so the gryphon could fly. 

Samuels gives his “favorite nickname” award to the Poca (W.V.) High School “Dots.” Historically, a sports reporter covering a high school football game in 1928, exclaimed, “they look like a bunch of red polka dots running around the field!”

 

To this day, the Poca Dots’ cheerleaders sport red-and-white polka dot ribbons in their hair.

 

Some schools have great nicknames, like the Adrian (Mich.) High School “Maples,” which make for sorry mascots. No kid wants to dress up like a sturdy maple tree losing leaves and oozing sap in the fall.