One coach had a gut-wrenching decision to make with two seconds remaining.

Turns out he made the decision long before the end of the 5A playoff game Friday night between No. 7 Arizona College Prep and No. 10 Cactus Shadows.

The coach on the other side, said he would have made the same exact decision if the roles were reversed. He agreed it had to go that way. The flow of the game called for it.

Instant classic for one. Second-guessing for the other. Staying alive for the quarterfinals. Or making an season-ending appointment with the school’s equipment manager on Monday.

Cactus Shadows scored a touchdown with two seconds remaining at Arizona College Prep. Instead of kicking the PAT, Falcons coach Chris Dixon II chose to go for the win with the 2-point try.

It failed.

ACP advances to the 5A quarterfinals with a 35-34 win that had more drama and heightened emotions than seemed possible to fit into 48 minutes of high school football.

“It’s the decision I had to make, and I’d make it again right now,” Dixon said. “I didn’t hesitate. I don’t play to tie. I play to win. I put my faith in our players, and I have no regrets. Put it in their hands and let it play out. It is, what it is.”

His quarterback and son, Donivan Dixon, eluded pressure, rolled to his right. One defender collapsed from the goal line. Another was a step behind the Cactus Shadow receiver. The younger Dixon threw to the sideline, but it fell at the receiver’s feet.

“What a way to end it,” ACP coach Derek Zellner said. “I would go for 2. You go for the win. Either roll 7, 11 or snake eyes or box cars. Fortunately for us, they got snake eyes.”

The flow of the entire game seemed to hang in the balance based on a roll of dice and huge emotional swings that come with it.

ACP’s Aiden Chapman was the defensive back on the coverage on the 2-point coverage and his defensive pressure led to the incomplete pass and the win as the Knights (9-2) advance to play ALA-Gilbert North in the quarterfinals.

“It was a wild game, and when they were coming out for two we knew we had to man up and make a play,” Chapman said. “They were going for the win. We lined up and did what we had to do.

“It was scramble play. Just stay man to man. Stay on their hip. Be the better guy. We won.”

There were huge plays, followed by even bigger plays throughout in this game that saw three touchdowns in the last 2 minutes and 15 second of the game.

The game turning plays started at the end of the first half.

With a 13-7 lead and less than 30 seconds before halftime, the Knights were within the 15-yard line, but freshman defensive back Colin Godfrey took an interception 91-yards for a 14-13 lead at the half.

“We weren’t down, but we’re definitely yapping it up before we calmed down,” ACP senior defensive back Melo Adams said. “We got it back together.”

Both teams scored on the opening drives of the second half with ACP converting the 2-point conversion for a 21-all game.

The Falcons (7-5) were in a good position to take the lead again after a 26-yard gain by senior wide receiver Trey Peck on 4th down and 6 to the 10-yard line. Instead of finishing off the drive, two penalties and an interception by ACP safety Abdul Hassan ended the threat.

“We have to be more discipline and make better decisions right there,” the elder Dixon said. “We’re inside the red zone. We have to get points there.”

To make matters worse, ACP scored almost immediately as senior quarterback Evan Heinrich connected with senior Kyle Poole and it went 90 yards for the score for a 28-21 lead with 9:12 remaining.

After trading turnovers, Cactus Shadows tied it at 28 when Dixon connected with Trey Peck for a 14-yard scored with 2:15 remaining.

ACP answered with an 80-yard drive when Heinrick hit senior wide receiver Ashton Sanchez on a crossing route for 38 yards for the 35-28 lead with 47 seconds left. Sanchez has dealt with injuries throughout the year and it was just his fourth touchdown of the season.

“I saw the linebackers flow to the right side, and I knew we had it,” Sanchez said. “I saw the opening and just took off. I thought I was free. The safety got there and we met at the pylon. It felt great to get that go-ahead touchdown in my last game at home.”

It appeared to be over with just 47 seconds left and 80 yards to go for the Cactus Shadows offense, but Dixon, who finished with more than 14,000 career total yards, put together one last drive before heading to Northern Arizona next year.

The Falcons got down to the field quickly, and led to 1st and goal from 10 with 9 seconds remaining. Dixon was pressured immediately, he faked left, came back right and connected with sophomore Brock Cashin for the score to bring it to 35-34 with two second remaining.

Two ticks of the clock. One decision. No overtime. A definitive outcome in regulation.

It was a decision that was predetermined. Coach Dixon and his team lost the region title because of an missed extra point against Horizon after a fourth quarter score drew the Falcons within one.

He figured the better decision was to go for it in a playoff game on the road. It just came up a bit short.

“This team was amazing,” Peck said of the loss. “We practice this type of stuff every week. Those hard moments, those loud noises. The trash talk. We prepared for this moment but we didn’t come up with it.

“Coach Dixon has so much faith in us. It lets us play freely. We don’t have to worry about the calls. We believed in ourselves. It was just one play short.”