PHOTOS: America’s Best High School Football Stadiums

Cathy Paker Field Where: Barrow, Alaska Built: 2007 A frigid landscape of permafrost that crunches underfoot from September until June, with brilliant blue ocean waters. That's the serene backdrop for Cathy Parker Field, home of the Barrow Whalers. The all-blue FieldTurf playing surface — which matches the color of the adjacent Arctic Ocean — is essential for a climate 300 miles inside the Arctic Circle, where the temperature climbs above 32 degrees just 100 days per year. The venue creates one of America's most picturesque high school football environments. Photo: HarperCollins

Eagle Stadium Where: Allen Texas Built: 2012 Texas has recently undergone a megamillions high school stadium boom similar to what Major League Baseball experienced with the rise of retro stadiums in the 1990s. Built at an eye-popping price tag of $60 million, Eagle Stadium is big enough to host lower division NCAA championships without breaking a sweat. There have been growing pains, as the facility was shut down for more than a year at one point and required $10 million in repairs. Photo: Allen Eagle Touchdown Club

Raymond Torii Field Where: Oahu, Hawaii Built: Unkown Welcome to paradise. Wai’anae High School’s teams are known as the Seariders for obvious reasons, and this venue is memorable for its unfettered ocean views, perfect weather and laid-back vibe. This venue, located about 30 miles northwest of Honolulu on the island of Oahu, is where future NFL linebacker Kurt Gouveia played his high school ball. It bears the name of the first principal of the school, which opened in 1957. Photo: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Where: Massillon Ohio Built: 1939 Massillon Washington High School considers itself an ancestral home of high school football. The original home of legendary football coach Paul Brown, the Tigers feature a live tiger mascot in a cage for home games and have a genuinely spooky illuminated visage of Brown looking over the field at all times. Because of the Massillon’s rich history and tradition, any game is memorable at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, which opened in 1938. Photo: WHS-TV

Round Valley Ensphere Where: Eagar Arizona Built: 1991 The Ensphere is the only domed stadium in America specifically created for high school football. The eastern Arizona facility, which opened in 1991, can accommodate 5,500 spectators for football and up to 9,000 for basketball and volleyball. After water damage led the facility to be closed for a full season in 2015-16, the wooden-beamed enclosed facility has been open again for three years. Photo: Round Valley Athletics

Jelsma Stadium Where: Guthrie, Oklahoma Built: 1936 Jelsma Stadium, commonly known as "The Rock," boasts an enormous stone retaining wall that transforms the venue into a de facto fort. The stadium was created as part of a Works Project Administration event, with the 30-foot high rock wall envisaged as a sort of signature differentiator. It originally opened in 1936 and was remodeled in 2006. Photo: Chris Evans/Guthrie News Page

Pendleton Round-Up Where: Pendleton, Oregon Built: 1910 A rodeo facility by trade, Round-Up Stadium is an oval venue with covered bleachers. Grass was installed on the playing surface for football in 1951. The Round-Up is the only high school football home field where a rodeo sentry stands watch at the entrance, and Pendleton High is appropriately nicknamed the Buckaroos. Pro Football Hall of Famer and Dallas Cowboys legend Bob Lilly earned all-state honors as a Pendleton High senior in 1956. Photo: Pendleton Round-Up Assoc.

Washington High School Stadium Where: San Francisco, California Built: 1940 Washington High School Stadium, located in the northwest corner of one of America’s most picturesque cities, offers a sweeping view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the mouth of San Francisco Bay. The venue was built in 1940, and Pro Football Hall of Famer Ollie Matson is the most notable Washington High player to compete there. Photo: Washington Athletics

Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium Where: Canton, Ohio Built: 1937 Tom Benson Stadium is known best for annually playing host to one NFL preseason game and the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony. It's home to Canton McKinnley high school and regular site of Ohio state championships. Opened in 1938 as Fawcett Stadium, it was renamed in recent years when New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson donated $10 million to renovate the facility. Photo: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

R.R. Jones Stadium Where: El Paso Texas Built: 1916 The “Lady on the Hill” looks a bit like Chicago's Soldier Field, but with a far more intimate setting. The facility sits at the foot of the Franklin Mountains. The bleachers of one end zone area of the stadium actually wrap around the entrance to the school, seamlessly weaving the football field into El Paso High School campus. The venue, originally built in 1916 and reconstructed in 1993, boasts a capacity of nearly 7,500. It bears the name of a longtime El Paso High principal. Photo: El Paso Athletics

Monument Valley Stadium Where: Monument Valley, Arizona Built: 1990 What Monument Valley Stadium lacks in plush amenities, it more than makes up for with breathtaking views. A modest metal grandstand and press box provide seating along the west side of the field. To the south, the venue boasts a virtually unobstructed view Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park's famed sandstone buttes just across the border in Arizona. Photo: Moument Valley Athletics

The Star Where: Frisco, Texas Built: 2009 When the Dallas Cowboys decided to build a new state of the art practice facility, they reached out to local school district in Frisco, Texas, to gauge interest in a partnership. The Cowboys would own and operate the facility, but Frisco's high schools would also play games in the indoor facility. The result combines the Cowboys headquarters and practice facilities with a hotel and dining and shopping destinations on a 91-acre footprint. Ford Center opened in 2016 Photo: Jeremiah Jhass

Mitchell Stadium Where: Bluefield Virginia/Bluefield West Virginia Built: 1936 Opened in 1936, this venue sits in a park which straddles the state border. The football stadium sits on the West Virginia side, while neighboring Bowen Field baseball park stands in Virginia. Mitchell Stadium was named for the city manager of Bluefield, West Virginia, who oversaw funding and construction of the venue. Mitchell serves as the home to both Bluefield High in West Virginia and Graham High directly across the border in Virginia. Photo: City of Bluefield

Diamond Ranch Academy Stadium Where: Hurricane, Utah Built: 2013 (turf installed) Most of the stadia in our bracket are notable because of their physical design. Not Diamond Ranch. The Utah stadium, home site for a premium youth residential treatment center, boasts the longest field design in all of football, a full, end zone-to-end zone diamondback pattern in stark black and yellow. It's a true statement piece, and one made even more striking by the lower mountains and hills in the backdrop. Photo: Diamond Ranch Academy

Ratliff Stadium Where: Odessa, Texas Built: 1982 Odessa’s Permian High football program was the subject of Buzz Bissinger's famed 1990 book “Friday Night Lights,” which inspired a movie and television series of the same name. Opened in 1982, Ratliff Stadium serves as the home field for both Odessa Permian and Odessa High School and seats nearly 20,000 fans. It was used as a filming site for the 2004 “Friday Night Lights” movie. Long live Boobie Miles! Photo: Texas HS Stadiums

Stadium Bowl Where: Tacoma, Washington Built: 1910 This 15,000-seat American classic is technically home to both Stadium High School and Woodrow Wilson High, but it's definitely Stadium's own. The gorgeous field, which opened in 1910, is wrapped by lower-level bleachers with an open end that looks directly out to Puget Sound. The adjacent Stadium High School takes its name from the facility, which is an apt metaphor for the importance and role football plays in high school culture across the nation. Photo: Mark B. Hamilton

The truest, most pure form of American sporting culture can be found on Friday nights, when communities rally around high schools and celebrate sports and a general sense of togetherness.

No matter the stadium, the size of the crowd or the level of competition, there’s something universal about high school football and what it represents.

VOTE: America’s Best High School Football Stadiums Contest

In that way, consider this a collection of America’s most authentic sporting cathedrals, a selection of 16 unique and spectacular high school football stadiums, each notable in its own way. Some feature spectacular natural beauty, while others boast awe-inspiring facilities. A handful possess history and tradition handed down from generations ago.

How did we pick our Sweet 16? We researched stadiums across the country, considering facilities across the nation to find the fields and facilities that are most unique for some reason or another. We started with a group of more than 30 stadiums par excellence, then whittled down to our group of 16 via rigorous internal debate between the USA TODAY High School Sports staff in an effort to balance facility strengths.