By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
MONTPELIER – High schools from across Northwest Ohio were involved in the WTOL 11 TV Mascot Challenge, which was a part of the station’s weekly sports program, Big Board Friday, highlighting the area’s top football games each week.
The mascot challenge was a contest where viewers voted to crown the top high school mascot in the Toledo area.
After weeks of online voting through social media, the Montpelier Locomotives can now claim the title of the WTOL 11 TV Mascot Challenge for 2025.
“It came across social media about six weeks ago when I happened to first see it and then retweeted it, said Montpelier Athletic Director Joe Brigle.
“It kind of took a life of itself. The people in the community did a fantastic job of pushing this. It’s amazing what social media can do; how far it networks out.”
The mascot challenge typically involves a bracket-style tournament with multiple rounds of voting, with results being announced on social media and Big Board Friday.
Once the top 16 teams were announced, viewers then voted, involving head-to-head matchups with other schools and to advance their favorite mascot throughout the tournament.
Voting was done via a Google form where students, staff, community residents, and alumni were encouraged to vote for their favorite mascot.
“What started as kind of a day-to-day, week-to-week type of thing, and yeah, we made it into the next round,” said Brigle. “The next thing was in making it into the championship round.”
Montpelier was one of 16 schools making the cut in the WTOL Mascot Challenge, along with the Liberty Center Tigers, Pettisville Blackbirds, Patrick Henry Patriots, Defiance Bulldogs, Tinora Rams, Northwood Rangers, Hopewell-Loudon Chieftains, Fostoria Redmen, Scott Bulldogs, Clay Eagles, Ayersville Pilots, Tiffin Columbian Tornadoes, Evergreen Vikings, Archbold Blue Streaks, and Bedford, Michigan Kicking Mules.
The Locomotives advanced to the Elite Eight over defending mascot champion, Evergreen, and then prevailed past Archbold in the semifinal round before going up against Northwood for the mascot challenge title.
With all of the online votes finally tabulated, Montpelier was declared the winner by a close margin, 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent over Northwood.
“Again, this is nothing more than just people getting online and voting,” said Brigle. “The students in this building, the teachers, the entire community kind of got behind this.”
The Locomotives mascot itself has a direct reflection on the Montpelier community for over 100 years, serving as a major hub for the Wabash Railroad, which was the biggest industry in town.
“It’s a really unique mascot,” said the Montpelier athletic director. “As far as I know, we’re the only school in Ohio to have a train as a mascot. It dates back to the 1920s when our high school sports teams, with the name of Locomotives, came about.”
The school will be receiving a prize at a later date from the Toledo TV station after winning this year’s Mascot Challenge.
“The people of this town have tremendous pride,” said Brigle. “We’ve had a really good run here the last decade, not in just one sport, but in all sports.”