It'll be the Rebels and the Guerrillas (again) for the Bloomington South title

Bryant Marmol of the Guerrillas

On January 11, 2012, the Rebels and the Guerrillas played against each other for the first time. The Rebels, who had been around since the Winter of 2011, defeated the Guerrillas, who were playing in their first game in Bloomington South, 82-63.

That was the first of 38 meetings between the two storied franchises, and after they both won in the Bloomington South semifinals last night, it sets up a 39th meeting with a title on the line. Here’s how these teams have stacked up over the years.

The Rebels have the head-to-head advantage over the Guerrillas, winning 23 of the 38 games they’ve played against each other. A big reason for this is because the Rebels have had a significant advantage in recent years. Since the start of the Winter 2018 season, the Rebels have gone 8-1 against the Guerrillas, with the only loss coming in last season’s championship game.

This will be the 10th time these teams will meet each other in the playoffs, and it will be the fifth time they face each other in a championship game. The Rebels have won six of those nine matchups, but they have split the championships 2-2.

Ryan Jansen of the Rebels

It was much rarer to see these teams play each other in the playoffs in the past, as there was a combined playoff between Bloomington South and Fridley for years before Fridley converted to a Rec-Plus league in the Winter of 2018. This will be the fourth straight time these teams have faced off in the BLS playoffs, and the third straight time they are playing for the title.

The Rebels defeated the Guerrillas 97-74 in Week 8 of the regular season, but it unfortunately came in a 4 vs. 4 game. You know something’s up when Ryan Jansen takes 31 shots in a game, 21.5 more than his career average.

Here’s a look at both of their overall records in Minnesota Rec:

Rebels - 262-90 (.744) with seven championships

Guerrillas - 229-95 (.707) with five championships

This is the Lakers-Celtics of UH Minnesota, with the Rebels holding slight advantages in the rivalry. There’s respect between them, but there’s been plenty of bad blood as well. One day before they were about to face off in the regular season in May 2015, the UH Rebels Twitter account tweeted for the last time.

The Guerrillas went on to beat the Rebels 85-38 the next day, before going on to win the championship that season 62-49…against the Rebels.

It will be interesting to see how this game will go without Dustin Dupont. This is the first season since the Rebels formed in 2011 that he hasn’t played, and so far the Rebels haven’t struggled without him. They have an 8-1 record and have already beat the Guerrillas this season. It’ll be an enticing championship and one that will add to this seven-plus year rivalry.