MaxPreps Mascot Mondays: Arizona 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 Arizona, there are 270 schools with mascots listed in the MaxPreps database. Listed below are the Top 15 most popular mascot names in Arizona, the mascot names that only one school owns and other mascot facts/stats.

ALL THEIR GAMES ARE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY
It doesn't matter if an athlete at Yuma has a clean record and a clean conscience: They are still a Criminal. According to the history of Yuma High School, a fire wiped out the school in 1914 and students had to take classes at the Yuma Territorial Prison while the school was rebuilt. It's about as unique as it gets, and it's sure to turn heads.

A MONSTROUS MASCOT
Gila Bend went with the Gila Monster as its mascot, a nice little play on words. The Gila Monster is the only venomous lizard native to the United States, and is found in the deserts of Arizona, California and northern Mexico. Gila Bend is the only school in America to incorporate a monster into its mascot name.

KEEPING UP WITH THE AMERICANS
Arizona mirrors America: 10 of the Top 11 Arizona mascot names show up on the national list.

DIVERSITY IN DEVILS
Arizona has all sorts of devils on its mascot list. Six to be exact: Blue Devils (2), Dust Devils (2), Sun Devils and Sand Devils.

LOST IN TRANSLATION
Arizona's Southwest heritage means that a lot of schools choose mascot names with Spanish-language origins. Combine like mascots and the numbers would be much different. For example, "lobo" translates to "wolf" in English and that would mean eight Lobos (nine if you include Fighting Lobos). If you combine the one "Caballeros" and add it to the Knights total, it makes 10.

TOP 19 MOST POPULAR MASCOT NAMES
# Eagles 16 (There is 1 Golden Eagles)
# Panthers 10
# Warriors 9
# Knights 9 (There is 1 Fightin' Knights)
# Cougars 8
# Wildcats 7 (There is 1 Wildkats)
# Tigers 7
Hawks 7 (There is 1 Black Hawks)
# Falcons 7
# Bulldogs 7
# Mustangs 6
Coyotes 6
Spartans 5
Wolves 4
# Trojans 4
Rams 4
Lobos 4 (There is 1 Fighting Lobos)
Jaguars 4
Bears 4
# Denotes that mascot name is in America's Top 15

MASCOT NAMES USED BY ONLY 1 SCHOOL

Antelopes Bearcats Black hawks Braves Broncs Buffaloes *Caballeros Cardinals Champions Chiefs Cobras *Criminals Crusaders Diamondbacks Dons *Dorados Doves Elks

*Fightin' Knights *Fighting Lobos *Fighting Scouts Firebirds Flames Frogs Gators *Gila Monsters Golden Eagles Gophers Griffins Grizzlies *Heroes Hornets Jackrabbits Jaguar Kings Lancers

Marauders Matadors Miners *Monsoon Nighthawks Owls Padres Phantoms Phoenix Pioneers Pirates Pride Prospectors Raiders Rangers Rattlers Ravens Red Raiders

Rockets Rough Riders Roughriders Saints *Sand Devils Shamrocks Skyhawks Stampede Storm Sultans Sun Devils Thunder Thunderbirds Toros Vandals Wildkats Wolverines Wranglers

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

MASCOT STATS:
Most popular mascot name is used by 5.9 percent of schools.
There are 122 different mascot names for 270 schools.
10 schools have mascot names that no other American school has.
Arizona's Top 19 features 11 of America's Top 15 mascot names.