The heated debate in a Connecticut town over whether to bring back the high school's Native American-themed mascot has left the school without an official athletic nickname days before the football team plays in a state championship game.

The 9-member Killingly Board of Education on Wednesday night voted to rescind Killingly High School’s new Red Hawks mascot, but stopped short of reinstating the former Redmen name, the Norwich Bulletin reported.

The vote came at the end of more than two hours of sometimes contentious public comments.

The issue returned after several Republican candidates ran on a platform of restoring the Redmen name. The previous school board had effectively voted to drop it last June. In October, the same board approved the new name after it was overwhelmingly approved by students.

The vote to restore the Redmen name ended in a tie when board Chairman Craig Hanford voted “present.”

Hanford said he was “appalled" by some of the comments at the meeting and wants to put together a bipartisan committee to study the mascot issue.

Killingly plays Weston in the in Class M state title football game on Saturday.