In 1919, the St. Paul City and Minneapolis City conference champions played a game for Twin Cities bragging rights. St. Paul Humboldt defeated Minneapolis South 21-12 in the inaugural Twin Cities Game.
The meeting between city champions has been a near-annual event ever since, interrupted only a few times by a teachers' strike, schedule conflicts or refusal by one team to play. On Saturday, 101 years since the first game was played, No. 5-2A Minneapolis North (18-6, 12-0) will play at St. Paul Johnson (15-7, 10-1) and extend the ongoing streak to 49 consecutive seasons.
Minneapolis has the advantage in the series, winning 64 of the 91 games.
Johnson and St. Paul Central tied for the St. Paul City Conference championship this season but Johnson was awarded its place in this game because Central played in the matchup a year ago.
In fact, Johnson, Central and North are all frequent participants, especially in recent years. At least one of those teams has participated in the game in each of the past 16 seasons. This will be the seventh consecutive season North has played either Central or Johnson.
North has played in the game 28 times, winning 20 of them. Johnson is 3-12 in its 15 Twin Cities Games but is 3-3 against North in six meetings since 2004. That includes a 123-115 double-overtime victory over the Polars in 2015, the year before North won the first of two back-to-back Class 1A state championships.
Central has won 10 of its 30 Twin Cities game appearances and is 4-12 against North.
This year's Polars are led by junior forward Davon Townley (18.3 ppg) and sophomore guard Willie Wilson (15.9 ppg).
The Governors have won 14 of their last 15 games and have three players producing more than 10 points per game, spearheaded by junior guard Julian Hodges (13 ppg).