Last week, I wrote about the Huntington Locomotives.

I waxed eloquent about the Wishram Rattlers, the Harvest Christian Night Hawks and the Veritas Vanguard.

Those are some of the coolest Oregon high school team mascots from the state’s Class 1A/2A/3A schools, but even though the bigger schools are more familiar to me — my work life is centered around the Class 6A Three Rivers League and the Class 5A Northwest Oregon Conference — some of their team names are still pretty great.

So let’s have some more fun. Today, we’re going to look at some of the unique — and therefore, very cool — team mascots from Oregon’s three biggest classifications.

As with last week’s column, that means we won’t be talking about “Eagles” — there are 21 schools in Oregon with Eagles as their mascot, which means it doesn’t meet the rarity test.

Also, there’ll be no discussion of “Tigers.” Why not? Because there are 14 schools in the state with “Tigers” as their mascot, and as great and scary and beautiful as tigers are, as a team mascot, it’s just not special. The same goes with “Warriors” (there are 13 schools in the state with that moniker) and “Cougars” (there’s another 13 schools in the state with that as their mascot).

So now, in no particular order, are my favorite one-off high school mascot names from the three biggest classifications of schools around the state.

1) Jefferson Democrats: One of the state’s oldest high schools — and now the smallest Class 6A high school by far – Jefferson kept its patriotic name while many other Portland high schools closed (Jackson, Monroe, Adams, Washington-Monroe and Marshall), changed their names (Wilson and Madison) or changed their nicknames (Franklin, Cleveland and Benson).

2) Sunset Apollos: A longtime member of the Metro League, Sunset took its name from its proximity to the Sunset Highway, then built on that with its sun god mascot, the Apollos.

3) Sherwood Bowmen: Located in the southeast corner of Washington County, Sherwood High School’s Bowmen mascot evokes the myth of Robin Hood and his skill as a contest-winning archer. A classic.

4) South Salem Saxons: Let’s be honest – in team names, alliteration matters. And in that arena, it’s hard to beat South Salem’s triple-s attack. It sounds tough, too.

5) Grants Pass Cavemen: C’mon. “Cavemen.” Big. Strong. Maybe not that smart, but ready to beat you with a club. That’s good stuff mascot-wise.

6) North Medford Black Tornado: This is one of my all-time favorites. Originally known as the Tigers, Medford High School (later, North Medford High School) changed its name to the Black Tornadoes after a description of its 1928 state-championship football team in The Oregonian.

7) Crater Comets: Another winner in the alliteration alympics – my apologies – Crater is named for its proximity to Crater Lake. The “Comet” part? Let’s be honest – it just sounds cool.

8) North Eugene Highlanders: Selected for the region’s Scottish heritage, “Highlanders” is only part of the school’s nod to Scotland, along with the school newspaper (the “Caledonian” – Caledonia being the Roman word for Scotland) and its yearbook (the “Tartan”).

9) Gladstone Gladiators: Again, if you like alliteration – and I do – this is a keeper. Plus, Gladiators fight to the death in bloody combat. Who doesn’t want that ethos for their high school sports teams?

10) Madras White Buffaloes: The white buffalo appears in only one of 10 million births and is considered sacred by many Native American cultures. Plus – despite what you may think of his politics – the name comes connected to a spirited and rocking song by Ted Nugent.