Top Four Regional Rivalries Emerge In The USA TODAY High School Sports Search For America's Best High School Football Rivalry; One Final Round Remains To Determine National Winner

Voting for the nation's top rivalry open now through Dec. 19 at usatodayhss.com; Winning rivalry to receive $10,000 to be split evenly between the schools

News provided by

USA TODAY Sports Media Group

Dec 13, 2012, 11:00 ET

MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY High School Sports today announced the four winning regional rivalries in the month-long search that will ultimately determine the best high school football rivalry in the country, which include Missouri's Brookfield vs. Marceline (Midwest), Alabama's T.R. Miller vs. W.S. Neal (South), Vermont's St. Johnsbury Academy vs. Lyndon Institute (North) and Arizona's Bisbee vs. Douglas (West). The rivalries now advance to the final, national round of competition which ends at 11 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Dec. 19.

In the Midwest, the combined population of Missouri's Brookfield and Marceline totals roughly 6,500 yet the rivalry received 232,235 total votes in the first two rounds of the competition.

The South represented the closest regional competition as Alabama's T.R. Miller vs. W.S. Neal edged out the Kentucky rivalry of St. Xavier vs. Trinity. The Alabama rivalry received 182,285 votes in the regional round, finishing 3 percent ahead of the Louisville schools. In the West, Bisbee vs. Douglas in Arizona rolled to a West Region win, receiving 38.7 percent of the final vote (91,973 total votes) after getting 52,690 votes to win its state round. In the North, the Vermont rivalry of St. Johnsbury Academy vs. Lyndon Institute received the most votes of any rivalry in the regional round, with 309,655 votes over the past week alone.

The USA TODAY High School Sports search for the best high school football rivalry in the country, as determined by high school football fans, began on Nov. 19. After two weeks of voting for the best rivalry in each state and Washington, D.C., the 51 winners began competing Dec. 5 in a regional round to become one of four rivalries to advance to the national competition.

The two teams ultimately determined by online voting to be the nation's best high school football rivalry will receive $10,000 ($5,000 to each school) in athletic department funding, as well as national coverage of the game in USA TODAY Sports in 2013 and a specially-designed trophy to be held by the rivalry's winner each year going forward.

Fans can vote for their favorite high school football rivalry at http://contest.usatodayhss.com/.

The USA TODAY Sports Media Group encompasses all sports initiatives across USA TODAY Sports and Gannett's more than 100 well-known local media brands. It also includes the sports photography service USA TODAY Sports Images, USA TODAY High School Sports and the hundreds of sites within USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties such as thebiglead.com and mixed martial arts site MMAjunkie.com, among others. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

(Logo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121205/DC24496LOGO )

SOURCE USA TODAY Sports Media Group