Killingly’s Soren Reif (34) cradles the game ball after Killingly won the 2021 Class M championship in football.
In late June, Killingly’s Board of Education voted, 6-1, to accept Trail Blazers as the high school’s new mascot in reports from the New London Day and NBC Connecticut. Members of the community and students at the high school and intermediate school voted on the new nickname.
The final two candidates were Trail Blazers and River Hawks with River Hawks receiving 280 votes and Trail Blazers receiving 267. Because the vote was so close, the school board committee gave more weight to the student vote and selected Trail Blazers, the Day reported.
In 2019, the Killingly Board of Education voted to change the high school’s mascot which was Redmen and Redgals to Red Hawks.
That new nickname lasted less than a year.
New members of the Board of Education, some who ran on the promise to restore the old mascot, voted in January 2020 to change Killingly’s mascot back to Redmen.
In 2024, the Board of Education set up another committee to review the mascot at Killingly High and voted to retire the Redmen mascot by a 5-4 vote in June 2024, according to the Day.
The school retired the Redmen mascot during a ceremony in November 2024, the Day and NBC Connecticut reported.
In 2017, the Killingly High football uniform had their mascot front and center with feathers on the helmet.
