MaxPreps Mascot Mondays: Mississippi high school mascots

Just as important as a school's name and its location is its mascot. Options abound, and some teams go with the commonplace while others go with the truly unique.

In Mississippi, there are 346 schools with mascots listed in the MaxPreps database. Listed below are the Top 20 most popular mascot names in Mississippi, the mascot names that only one school owns and other mascot facts/stats.

ROCK-A-CHAWS STICK WITH YOU
A Rock-A-Chaw is not a fierce animal, nor is it a destructive force of weather or science, like most popular mascots. Yet it's something that you want to stay away from because you're going to end up hurting. According to the thorough explanation given on the St. Stanislaus (Bay St. Louis) website, a Rock-A-Chaw is an old Choctaw Indian word that literally translates to "devil grass" and it is in reference to sand burrs. Sand burrs are prickly weeds that abound in the Bay St. Louis area, and their sharp spikes can cause plenty of pain when you step or fall on them. The site says that students used to drag woolen blankets across fields before games to pick up the rock-a-chaws.

THESE URCHINS AREN'T FORGOTTEN
You've got to be careful when you talk about the East Union (Blue Springs) Urchins. Using one definition makes it sound like they don't house or feed their children there. That one is wrong. Instead, think of sea urchins. In the dictionary an urchin is "a mischievous and often poor and raggedly clothed youngster" but the school's logo features a seahorse, so it's best to go with "any of numerous class echinoderms that are usually enclosed in thin brittle globular vests covered with movable spines." Nobody else in America are the Urchins, or the Sea Urchins, so East Union stands alone.

CONQUISTADORS IN MISSISSIPPI?
You will only find one Conquistadors (or Conquistadores) east of the Mississippi River. Olive Branch is one of six American schools to honor the adventurers who colonized much of the world  for the Portugese and Spanish in the 15th through 17th centuries. Four of the six are in California, and the other is in Texas. There is a small connection between Mississippi and the Conquistadors, as Cabeza de Vaca marched a group of men along the southern shores of America.

2ND-MOST REBELLIOUS STATE
This one might sting a bit for Mississippi. The state that named its flagship university the Rebels doesn't have the most high schools named Rebels in the nation. That honor goes to neighboring Louisiana, which has 15 schools named Rebels. Mississippi has 13 Rebels and one Red Rebels (Harrison Central in Gulfport), so if you make that 14, it equals Alabama's total. The South's attempt to secede from the United States certainly displayed some rebellion, and that part of history is appreciated in Mississippi.

A DIFFERENT SHADE OF TIDE
The University of Alabama has its Crimson Tide, and in Picayune, they have their Maroon Tide. They actually aren't the only ones to come up with that mascot name, as a Virginia school is also the Maroon Tide. The school's football team wears the same uniform type as the University of Alabama, with the players' jersey numbers on the helmets instead of a team logo. Who would've thought a Mississippi school would model itself after the Alabama Crimson Tide?

TOP 20 MOST POPULAR MASCOT NAMES
# Tigers 34
# Bulldogs 22
# Eagles 20 (There is 1 Golden Eagles and 1 War Eagles)
# Cougars 15
# Panthers 14
# Wildcats 14
Rebels 13 (There is 1 Red Rebels)
# Lions 12
# Raiders 9 (There is 1 Red Raiders)
# Trojans 9
# Warriors 9
Patriots 8
Hornets 7
# Mustangs 7
Blue Devils 6 (There is 1 Red Devils)
Yellowjackets 6
Rams 6
# Indians 6
Jaguars 6
Saints 6
# Denotes mascot name is in America's Top 15

MASCOT NAMES USED BY ONLY 1 SCHOOL

Admirals Arrows Bruins Chieftains Choctaws Cobras Commodores Conquerors Conquistadors Cowboys Crescents

Cubs Flames Flashes *Forerunners Golden Eagles Golden Tornadoes Golden Wave Greyhounds Hilltoppers Hurricanes *Knight Hawks

Maroon Tide Mavericks Oilers Pioneers Red Devils Red Raiders *Red Rebels *Rock-A-Chaws Rockets Royals Seminoles

Stars Tartars Timberwolves Tomcats Troopers *Urchins Volunteers War Eagles Whippets Wolverines Wolves

* Denotes that no other school in America has that mascot name

MASCOT STATS
Most popular mascot name is used by 9.8 percent of schools.
There are 90 different mascot names for 346 schools.
5 schools have mascot names that no other American school has.
Mississippi's Top 20 features 12 of America's Top 15 mascot names.