May Mascot Madness: Charging Czechs’ landslide highlights end of first round

And now, there are 27.

The first round of May Mascot Madness, in which The Gazette is crowning a champion as Iowa's best nickname among defunct high schools, concluded Thursday with sectionals in the Southeast District.

We'll pick it up next week, starting Monday.

Districts will run Monday (Far Northwest, Near Northwest and West Central), Tuesday (Southwest, North Central and Central) and Wednesday (Northeast, East Central and Southeast). The plan now is for substates next Friday and the state championship Monday, June 1.

Eighty-one schools began the competition, and one-third of them survived the sectional round.

The Everly Cattlefeeders had the biggest following, earning 283 votes to win their sectional in convincing fashion.

But Everly was not the team with the most convincing landslide. That honor goes to the Clutier Charging Czechs, who gathered 98 of 129 votes — 76.0 percent — in Thursday's balloting in the Southeast District.

The next most dominant teams in first-round competition were the Zwingle Zippers (75.0 percent), the Volga City Boatmen (74.0), the Lanesboro Burros (73.6) and the Elkhart Echoes (72.2). Everly received 70.6 percent of the votes in its competition.

Four races went down to the final tallies.

• The Grand River Blue Dragons edged the Tingley Nomads by a 45-44 margin in a Southwest District sectional.

• The Muscatine Catholic Muscateers slipped past the DeWitt St. Joseph's Warbirds, 57-56, in an East Central sectional thriller.

• And Thursday, in the Southeast District, the Wyman Welshmen outlasted the Fox Valley Trotters, 57-55, and the Rose Hill Hill Men edged the South English Blue Bombers, 47-44.

Far Northwest District

SECTION A

Ocheyedan Mounders 46.33% (158)

Lester Goldfinches 40.18% (137)

Larchwood St. Mary's Traveliers 13.49% (46)

SECTION B

Floyd Valley Thunderbirds 57.76% (186)

Alton St. Mary's Blue Jax 35.09% (113)

Sioux City Riverside Cavaliers 7.14% (23)

SECTION C

Quimby Peacocks 39.37% (124)

Fairview Typhoons 35.24% (111)

Grand Meadow Larks 25.39% (80)

Near Northwest District

SECTION A

Everly Cattlefeeders 70.57% (283)

Clay Central Comanches 20.95% (84)

Clay Central-Everly Mavericks 8.48% (34)

SECTION B

Sioux Valley Soos 47.81% (142)

Fonda Flyers 28.28% (84)

Brooke Canaries 23.91% (71)

SECTION C

Webb Spiders 55.37% (165)

Albert City-Truesdale Hurricanes 26.85% (80)

Marathon Minutemen 17.78% (53)

West Central District

SECTION A

East Monona Thunderhawks 63.06% (210)

Panama Mosquitoes 35.44% (118)

Avoca Bluebirds 1.5% (5)

SECTION B

Lanesboro Burros 73.56% (128)

Viola Township Victors 21.26% (37)

Bayard Reds 5.17% (9)

SECTION C

Zion Zephyrs 56.74% (101)

DeSoto Whirlwinds 38.2% (68)

Nevin Blue Sox 5.06% (9)

Southwest District

SECTION A

Farragut Admirals 57.93% (84)

Amity AmHawks 32.41% (47)

Northboro Red Birds 9.66% (14)

SECTION B

Grand River Blue Dragons 35.71% (45)

Tingley Nomads 34.92% (44)

Gravity Grizzlies 29.37% (37)

SECTION C

Rathbun Coal Miners 52.82% (75)

Garden Grove Grovers 35.21% (50)

Millerton Waves 11.97% (17)

North Central District

SECTION A

Mallard Ducks 45.63% (94)

Bancroft St. John's Johnnies 32.52% (67)

Curlew Waders 21.84% (45)

SECTION B

Klemme Shamrocks 55.36% (160)

Sheffield Claydiggers 33.91% (98)

Twin River Valley Thunder 10.73% (31)

SECTION C

Boxholm Swedes 62.79% (108)

Fort Dodge Corpus Christi Catholic Celts 22.09% (38)

Williams Cornhuskers 15.12% (26)

Central District

SECTION A

Elkhart Echoes 72.22% (78)

Des Moines Tech Engineers 25% (27)

Des Moines West Blue & Gold 2.78% (3)

SECTION B

Laurel Green Hornets 67.62% (71)

NESCO Royal Kings 23.81% (25)

Fernald Blue Jackets 8.57% (9)

SECTION C

Rudd Rangers 44.25% (50)

Eldora Training Trainers 34.51% (39)

Alden Redskins 21.24% (24)

Northeast District

SECTION A

Rudolphinum Rudohawks 62.32% (86)

Clermont Commanders 23.91% (33)

Calmar Cahawks 13.77% (19)

SECTION B

Volga City Boatmen 74.02% (94)

New Vienna St. Boniface Bonnies 22.05% (28)

New Vienna New Hawks 3.94% (5)

SECTION C

Cascade Aquin Tomahawks 50.76% (67)

Loras/Columbia College Gubs 40.91% (54)

St. Columbkille Co-Dukes 8.33% (11)

East Central District

SECTION A

Zwingle Zippers 75% (117)

Goose Lake Jets 13.46% (21)

Mechanicsville Bullets 11.54% (18)

SECTION B

Muscatine Catholic Muscateers 37.75% (57)

DeWitt St. Joseph's Warbirds 37.09% (56)

DeWitt DeHawks 25.17% (38)

SECTION C

Oxford Seabees 56.85% (83)

Nichols Little Nicks 38.36% (56)

Iowa City University High Blue Hawks 4.79% (7)

Southeast District

SECTION A

Clutier Charging Czechs 75.97% (98)

Green Mountain Mounties 17.05% (22)

Tama Tamahawks 6.98% (9)

SECTION B

Wyman Welshmen 44.88% (57)

Fox Valley Trotters 43.31% (55)

Salem Seahawks 11.81% (15)

SECTION C

Rose Hill Hill Men 38.21% (47)

South English Blue Bombers 35.77% (44)

Hedrick Foxes 26.02% (32)

Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com