High school sports teams, more often than not, are synonymous with memorable mascots.
Such as the Rhinelander High Hodags, in Wisconsin. (You know: The Hodag. That fearsome, ox-looking, cryptid said to frequent the North Woods of the heavily forested state).
Under the Friday night lights in Frankfort, Ind., people come out to cheer for – who else – the Hot Dogs.
Or the Fightin’ Planets of Mars High School, in the little township of the same name in orbit just past Pittsburgh.
And don’t forget the Cee-Bees, of Clay-Battelle Middle/High School, in Blacksville.
The punchy, hyphenated moniker of the proud, hyphenated school in western Monongalia County has made the Sports Illustrated contest of best high school mascot names in the country for 2025.
Voting ends 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Visit the magazine online to cast your ballot.
An abbreviation, Sport Illustrated writes, can do a lot of heavy lifting: “If every hyphenated school used its initials as its nickname, there’d be a whole lot more competitors with the Eagles and Tigers as the most common team name. But they don’t – so the Cee-Bees stand out.”
For 30 years, Clay-Battelle’s football team had to do a lot of heavy lifting just to get on the field.
The school in Blacksville began its life in 1939 – a masonry marvel that was part of the Works Progress Administration.
A school, yes. But a football field?
Nope.
Through 1968, the school played its “home” games just over the state line in Brave, Pa., on a beat-to-heck field with a decided hill – yes, a hill – leading down to one of its end zones.
Finally, coal mining companies in the area allowed the use of their heavy machinery to move the earth for a football field on the Clay-Battelle campus.
Then, in 2013, thanks to a contribution from husband and wife (and former Clay-Battelle high school sweethearts) Ben and Jo Statler, that field was heavily renovated to become the showcase it is today.
Meanwhile, the Cee-Bees are in the running in West Virginia for this year’s contest with the Applemen of Musselman High; the Madonna Blue Dons; the Dots of Poca High and the Man Hillbillies.
