More than 50 teenagers from rival schools squared up for a brawl arranged over the internet .

Eight police officers, six community support officers and two dog units were called into action after pupils from Peacehaven Community School and Longhill High School in Rottingdean prepared for the dust-up in Telscombe.

Dozens of teenagers were stopped and searched, some as young as 13. One was found armed with a cricket bat.

Sergeant Robin Fuller, from Sussex Police, said the fight after school on Friday evening had been prearranged by mobile phone and web chatrooms following an incident a week earlier.

He said a youth from Peacehaven had been assaulted by another from Brighton and the brawl had been planned in retaliation.

It is the second time in a year police have had to intervene to stop teenagers from the two schools fighting.

Last March more than 60 were involved in a confrontation at the Meridian Centre in Peacehaven, where some were armed with planks of wood. They had already been dispersed from Telscombe Tye where a group had gathered.

Officers took action on Friday after rumours spread that a large fight was planned for either Telscombe Tye or Chatsworth Park in Telscombe.

Sgt Fuller said they had been informed a group of teenagers were on their way from the Saltdean and Woodingdean areas of Brighton.

He said: "Once we received the information we put resources in place immediately in an effort to tackle the problem."

Extra patrols were launched and a large group of youths were found at Chatsworth Park before any violence could break out. The searches were carried out but no-one was arrested.

Alcohol was seized from a number of the teenagers.

Sgt Fuller said he had written to the parents of all of the youths involved letting them know their children had been congregating for anti-social purposes.

He said he would be working with the Brighton neighbourhood policing team and the schools to try to stop the problem from happening again.

He thanked the members of the community who had provided the information which stopped the fight from happening.

In the days leading up to the fight insults were traded on social networking websites. A group on the Bebo website calling themselves Woodingdean Bois were challenged by another gang called Newhaven Rukh'erz.

One member, going by the name Yess Phil, wrote: "We need us all back together. Apparently we are scum, according to someone from Peacehaven."

Several members of Woodingdean Bois are also involved with Risky HQ, the Brighton gang exposed in The Argus last week. Some of the group had been seen posing with guns and knives around the city.

Haydn Stride, the new headteacher of Longhill High, said his school had good links with the community police officers and wanted to work with them.

He said on Monday that he had not been approached about the fight and was unable to issue any specific comment.

Helen Cryer, headteacher of Peacehaven Community School, was unavailable.