Does Idaho have the best mascot in America? You help decide.

 

What do a potato, musher and (Poca) dot have in common?

Not much. But they are among the finalists for best high school mascot in the country, and you could help one of them win.

Scorebook Live’s very unscientific competition pits some of Idaho’s doozies against some clever national competition.

The Shelley High School Russets (for Idaho’s newcomers, that’s something you eat) and the Camas County Mushers (for you Californians, that’s someone who pulls a dog sled) both slid into the championship round of Scorebook’s Best Mascot in America competition, Scorebook announced on its website earlier this week.

Help either Idaho school mash (mush?) the competition by voting here. Voting closes Tuesday, Nov. 1, at midnight.

Twelve teams survived a “grueling” bracket round to compete “as supreme ruler of the high school mascot-verse,” Scorebook announced. The two Idaho schools won their respective “food” and “job” brackets in prior voting.

“It’s not Alaska, but Fairfield, Idaho (home of Camas County High) — does average over 60 inches of snow per year, and mushing is one efficient way to get around during winter in the rural town of 567 people,” Scorebook announced in a writeup of schools still in the running.

And Shelley’s Russet “isn’t just any potato — it’s a russet-burbank potato that wears a crown, robe and scepter,” Scorebook writes, referencing the school’s beloved mascot, Boomer.

Other lingering contenders include the Lake Forest Academy “Caxys” of Illinois and the “Dots” of Poca, West Virginia, who claimed Scorecard’s “pun” bracket.

The “Caxys,” who claimed Scorebook’s “random” bracket, is ancient Greek for “ribbit.”

“In the early 1900s,” Scorebook explains, “Aristophanes’ comedy ‘The Frogs’ was the subject of a popular Greek literature class at the school. Thus, the Caxys.”

One notable Idaho school not in the running: the Orofino Maniacs of North Idaho.

We know: crazy.

“Once a maniac, always a maniac,” the school’s website reads.

 

Devin Bodkin

Devin Bodkin

EdNews assistant editor and reporter Devin Bodkin is a former high school English teacher who specializes in stories about charter schools and educating students who live in poverty. He lives and works in East Idaho. Follow Devin on Twitter @dsbodkin. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

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