USA TODAY High School Sports wrapped up its monthlong competition to determine the nation’s top high school football rivalry. The Bell Game, which features Brookfield and Marceline, two towns in Missouri with a combined population of 6,500,  managed to snag 1,761,259 votes in just one week of the national round.  To think this game was almost cancelled eight years ago.  Mexico, Mo. affiliate KXEO’s Dave Thomas has more.

AUDIO Report of the Bell Game (:35)

What helped push the Bell Game over the top?  A school sponosored “lock-in.”  Brookfield’s lock-in, started at 9 p.m. Saturday and ended at 6 a.m. Sunday. Students were coaxed with the hopes of winning a national title and lots of fast food that was donated.  Over 60 students, or 20% of the high school student body spent the night inside of the school, voting.  Parents even stayed overnight to help vote.

While the schools may have a fierce rivalry on the field, they teamed up to bolster supporty by going Gangnam Style in the video below.