Mitchell Stadium voted America's Best High School Football Stadium

From 16 to one, the eventual victor of the America’s Best High School Football Stadiums contest is the one that sits on the soil of two different states.

Mitchell Stadium, home of Bluefield (W. Va.) High School and Graham High School (Bluefield, Va.), was picked as the nation’s top high school football stadium by far surpassing the vote total of its final round opponent. R.R. Jones Stadium in El Paso. Mitchell earned nearly 60% of the final round vote, taking home a total of 2,149,143 votes to R.R. Jones’ 1,515,558 votes.

RESULTS: America’s Best HS Football Stadiums Final Round

Mitchell Stadium is unique in its service to two different high schools in adjoining states; the field which is also home to Bluefield College’s NAIA football team, is technically closer to the Graham High School physical building, but is physically located on West Virginia soil. As a result, Graham High School is the only school in the nation that plays all its home football games in another state. The field dates back to 1936, just before World War II, when it was constructed as part of a wide ranging public park project.

While the Bluefield and Graham High Schools remain the site’s most notable tenants, there was one very notable collegiate game played at the facility: in 1953, West Virginia and Virginia Tech faced off at the field, with the two schools bringing their soccer teams to recreate the matchup in 2007.

Mitchell Stadium reached the final round of the contest via a series of voting battles, narrowly topping iconic Ohio venue Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon with just more than 52% of the vote, earning 69% of the vote against the Round Valley Ensphere in the quarterfinal round, and then capturing 55% of the vote when matched up against Tacoma’s picturesque Stadium Bowl in the semifinals. The closest any opposing stadium came to knocking off Mitchell was the home of the Massillon Washington Tigers in the very first poll.

Meanwhile, the contest’s runner-up, R.R. Jones Stadium, reached the final round by emerging victorious against first-round opponent Pendleton Round Up (Jones Stadium earned exactly two-thirds of that vote), fellow Texas venue Eagle Stadium in Allen (62% of the vote to Jones) and Hawaii’s picturesque Raymond Torii Field (54% of the vote).

In all the contest featured more than 5,775,000 total votes across four rounds. Now, thanks to that overwhelming response, Mitchell Stadium has officially been named the winner.

Congratulations to Mitchell Stadium, and congratulations to the other 15 beautiful stadiums featured in the contest.