The Battle for the Cowbell has proved to be the best high school football rivalry in the state of Iowa.

The Perry versus Greene County match-up has won the first round of competition in USA Today’s second annual Best High School Rivalry contest.  The local rivalry was one of five chosen in the state and last week football fans voted online for their favorite.

Perry versus Greene County received a total of 19,135 votes, equal to more than half of all votes cast in Iowa.

The fifty state winners, along with one from the District of Columbia, will now move on to eight different regional finals.  The winner of those rounds, along with two wild cards, will advance to a final round of the top 10 ten rivalries.

The national winner will receive $5,000 to be split evenly between the two schools and each national finalist will also get a cash prize.

Round two voting begins at 11am today and runs through December 10th.  There’s no limit to the number of times you can vote.  A link to the page can be found on our website, CLICK HERE.