Michael Burgess II is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Central High School for AZPreps365.com

PHOENIX-- The phrase "once in a lifetime" is one of the most overly misused expressions in all of sports.

However, Monday's regular-season finale between the Central Bobcats and the Carl Hayden Falcons qualifies to be in that rare air.

Dealing with injuries, no-shows and players out due to COVID-19 protocol, Central, on the road with only eight players available to play, faced a problem.

Head coach Xavier Flores faced a decision.

 Would Flores field a team already down three guys in a game he knows they'll lose? Or does he just pack up everything, forfeit the game, and focus on getting his team ready for next season?

"It's embarrassing to only have eight guys available when they [Carl Hayden] have a full team," Flores said before the game. "I don't doubt our ability; I doubt it'll be worth it."

With the minutes inching closer to kickoff, and the prospect of a game even occurring starting to become more and more uncertain, Flores made up his mind:

Central's season was already over; Carl Hayden has a play-in game on Wednesday for the 5A State playoffs. To prevent further injury to either side, Central would only play for one 30-minute period, ten minutes short of the usual 40-minute half system employed by Arizona high school soccer. After that, the game would be over.

Referee Estela Lara said she'd never encountered a situation like that during her career refereeing high school soccer games.

"Because of COVID, illnesses and the stress of playing so much over the past two weeks, a lot of teams are tired or short of players," said Lara. "As long as both coaches understand what's going on, we as officials will officiate the game."

Carl Hayden's head coach, Ramon Zambrano, begrudgingly accepted the terms, preferring any action to no action for his team.

"We came ready for the 80-minute match," Zambrano said. "Unfortunately, the other team wasn't as prepared, and we had to cut it short. That's what they chose. That's what they wanted. They were not going to do anything else. It was either we play or they were just going to walk out."

It wasn't just Carl Hayden who had a hard time accepting the game format.

When Flores explained the situation to his team and the reasoning behind it, he was met with a ton of push-back from his players. They stressed that they wanted the chance to compete, regardless of what the score would look like or how grueling of a task it would be.

Although his mind was already made up, for Flores, that moment was what made the game worth it.

"It's been like that my whole tenure at Central," Flores said. "The boys play and they play 100%. I was telling them before the game I have no doubt y'all will play 100%. And we showed it. We played really hard."

Down 3-0 after the first ten minutes of the game, the Bobcats never stopped fighting and pushing the ball forward. In the 20th minute of the match, senior forward Hissa Mangye rocketed a long-range effort from the right side of the field into the left side of the net for a goal to make the score 3-1.

A Falcons goal with 14 seconds left in the match would seal Central's 4-1 defeat, but its tenacity gave Flores something to look forward to heading into next season.

"The talent is there for Central," Flores said. "It's just a matter of managing testing and protocols and getting the kids to buy in so we can move forward as a whole team."

Monday was Carl Hayden's senior day, and, despite the peculiar situation, the team still had a lot of fun on the pitch.

"What I can take away from this game is the emotion," Zambrano said after the game as he watched his seniors spend time with their families on the field. "The moment we stepped foot in the locker room, you could feel the joy that was in there. The happiness. The camaraderie."

The elation on the field became no more apparent than when, with 14 seconds left on the clock, senior striker Rafael Zazueta fired a shot past Central goalkeeper Rashidi Amisi into the lower left corner. Carl Hayden's home crowd erupted as every teammate on the pitch ran over and celebrated around Zazueta.

Carl Hayden celebrates Rafael Zazueta's goal in a 4-1 win over Central. (Photo taken by Michael Burgess II)"That may have been his first goal in his four years here," Zambrano said of the celebration. "That's why they celebrated the way they did. Everyone wanted him to get that one that bad."

Central finishes the season with an overall record of 0-8-1 and will look to retool to replace the eight seniors leaving the team. As for Carl Hayden, the Falcons finish the regular season with an overall record of 7-3-1 and look forward to hosting their play-in game for the 5A State playoffs on Wednesday.