Earlier this year, USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey put out a survey asking fans of every high school team in the state to tell us about their school’s biggest football rivalries.

The survey gave each fan 100 points to allot among up to three of their team’s top rivals. They could allot 100 points to their biggest rival, or spread their 100 points across two or three rivals. The points indicated the importance of each rivalry to that fan. 

The survey was inspired by KnowRivalry.com, a website that uses a similar survey to conduct research on the most intense rivalries in college football and several professional sports leagues.

USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey received more than 1,700 survey responses, and now we’ve had a chance to crunch the data.

Scoring each rivalry

Here’s a quick explainer of the numbers you’ll see below: Each team’s “weighted score” is the average number of points that fans of that team allotted to that specific rival. In most cases, the number you see is an exact average.

Where the “weighting” comes in is for any school that had fewer than 10 fans submit responses. In those cases, the average number of points is multiplied by the number of responses divided by 10. We chose to weight the scores in that manner because we consider the number of survey responses received to be a factor in measuring the intensity of a rivalry. 

The total weighted score is the sum of points each team allotted to each other. The most intense rivalries are the ones in which both teams’ fans allotted most of their points to each other. That’s the definitive number we used to rank all of the rivalries in the Garden State. 

Below you’ll find the Jersey Shore’s top 9 rivalries. On Wednesday, we’ll reveal where these rivalries rank among the top 60 rivalries in the state.

9. Brick vs. Toms River South

County: Ocean

Brick weighted score: 33.70

Toms River South weighted score: 9.89

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE: 43.59

There’s a lot of history between the two teams, and Brick fans rated this one as their biggest rivalry. The biggest games between these teams came back in the ’60s and ’70s when legendary coaches Warren Wolf (Brick) and Ron Signorino (TR South) roamed the sidelines. Signorino later joined Wolf’s staff at Brick, which leads the series 34-16.

8. Keansburg vs. Keyport

County: Monmouth

Keansburg weighted score: 31.80

Keyport weighted score: 17.95

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE: 49.75

These two Bayshore neighbors meet annually in one of the Jersey Shore’s best small-school rivalries. The Raiders and Titans have combined for nine NJSIAA Central Group 1 championships, six of them by Keyport.

7. Freehold Borough vs. Freehold Township

County: Monmouth

Freehold weighted score: 27.80

Freehold Township weighted score: 36.40

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE: 64.20

The two sister schools play annually for the “Duke Trophy.’’ They met on Thanksgiving every year from 1972-1999, but now regularly play during the regular season. Freehold Borough leads the all-time series 22-14-3.

6. Long Branch vs. Red Bank

County: Monmouth

Long Branch weighted score: 55.63

Red Bank weighted score: 11.00

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE: 66.63

This annual Thanksgiving rivalry game took a hiatus in 2020 thanks to COVID-19, but will resume this fall. Long Branch leads the all-time series 62-32-3, but the teams have split their last six meetings.

5. Red Bank Catholic vs. Rumson-Fair Haven

County: Monmouth

Red Bank Catholic weighted score: 50.10

Rumson-Fair Haven weighted score: 31.50

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE: 81.60

Fans of two of the Jersey Shore’s strongest football programs regard each other as their biggest rivals. These schools – which have combined for six sectional titles since 2013 –met on Thanksgiving Week for many years until a hiatus from 2014-2017. The rivalry resumed as a regular season match-up in 2018. Red Bank Catholic leads the all-time series 33-25-6.

4. Toms River South vs. Toms River North

County: Ocean

Toms River South weighted score: 58.86

Toms River North weighted score: 27.00

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE: 85.86

There are three high schools in the school district, but fans of both Toms River South and Toms River North rated each other as their biggest rival. The legendary marching bands of the two schools, and their fight songs “Old Indian Tom’’ (South) and “Anchors Aweigh’’(North), are part of the pageantry of this rivalry.

3. Wall vs. Manasquan

County: Monmouth

Wall weighted score: 83.78

Monmouth weighted score: 82.08 

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE: 165.86

Located fewer than four miles from each other, these teams play one of the few Thanksgiving Day games left in Monmouth County. The Shore Conference rivals have met 20 times on Thanksgiving Day, with Wall winning 11 of those games. The Crimson Knights finished the 2020 season ranked No. 1 in the state.

2. Middletown North vs. Middletown South

County: Monmouth

Middletown North weighted score: 91.83

Middletown South weighted score: 76.00

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE: 167.83

These sister schools have played 46 times, with 44 of those games coming on Thanksgiving Day. South owns a commanding 33-12-1 lead in the all-time series, but fans on both sides rated each other as their biggest rival.

1. Asbury Park vs. Neptune

County: Monmouth

Asbury Park weighted score: 91.75

Neptune weighted score: 90.89

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE: 182.64

Fans on both sides of this Shore Conference rivalry made it clear that nothing means more to them than winning this rivalry game. The Bishops and Scarlet Fliers have met 92 times. The first 91 of those games came on Thanksgiving, but the most recent was moved up to earlier in the season due to concerns about COVID-19. Neptune leads the all-time series 50-38-4.

Source: Asbury Park

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