UPDATE: CHS Advances to Second Voting Round for Nation's Best Football Rivalry

Published Nov. 19, 2013 at 03:11 p.m., Updated Dec. 4, 10:08 a.m.

Update: The Oakers vs. Wizards rivalry has made it past the first round! The second round of voting is now open and continues through Dec. 10. If the bitter rivals can make it through Round 2, voting for the national finals runs Dec. 11-18. Click here to vote for our rivalry as many times as you'd like from Dec. 2-10!

Original Post: Ten Rhode Island high schools set to battle their bitter rivals on the field next Thursday are also partnering with those same football enemies in a contest away from the gridiron.

Coventry's annual grudge match with West Warwick is among five high school football rivalries in the state that have been chosen to compete in the Best High School Football Rivalry competition conducted by USA Today. The newspaper selected the competitors in each state and Washington, D.C. after more than a month of conversations with local media and other state/school officials with high school football expertise. 

About the Coventry/West Warwick rivalry, USA Today wrote: "The schools are less than eight miles apart, and the rivalry has upheld every Thanksgiving Day. West Warwick leads the all time series 40-9-2, and are on a current 8 game winning streak, out scoring the Oakers 169-31. The schools battle each year on Thanksgiving Day; the winner gets the Amby Smith Trophy. The last Coventry victory came in 2004."

In Rhode Island, the competitors include Coventry and West Warwick; East Providence and LaSalle; Woonsocket and Cumberland; Warwick Vets and Pilgrim; and Pawtucket's Tolman and Shea.

Now, it's up to the fans to decide who has the greatest rivalry in high school sports. From there, the fans now decide which rivalry emerges from a list of 255 - more than 100 more rivalries overall than a year ago. This year's best rivalry competition will end Dec. 18 after three rounds of voting. The 51 state winners advance to one of eight regionals. The winners of the eight regions, along with two wild cards, move onto a final round of 10.

The winner receives $5,000 to be split evenly between the two schools, with other prizes going to all of the national finalists.

The first round of voting is now open and continues through Nov. 27. The Regional round runs Dec. 2-10, and the national finals run Dec. 11-18.