Hard to lose when the other team does not score. The Central High boys soccer team came within two minuites of keeping the opposition scoreless in a pair of games Tuesday.

With plenty of offense to go with that defense, Central won the 12th annual Jackrabbit Invitational, downing host Mesa High, 3-1, in the title game at Jackrabbit Stadium.

Central coach Xavier Flores watched his squad take a 4-0 win in the semis Tuesday morning over Queen Creek and then cap the day with a three-goal flurry in a 15-minute span of the first half.

Guiding the trio of goals was midfielder Alberto Garcia, who assisted Zoo Htoo on the first goal in the 14th minute and nailed a 25-yard kick off a throw-in 15 minutes later. In between Agustin Guerrero scored unassisted in the 24th minute.

"We were just glad to be there,"  Mesa coach T.J. Hagen said of the Jackrabbits' berth in the final. "We were pretty banged up. Our best player was out due to a red card. Our keeper was really beat up and we took him out the second half.....

"Central had a great tournament. We battled them a little better yesterday (Monday, a 4-2 loss)."

Central improved to 9-0 on the season, winning all six of its games in the four-day tournament. The Bobcats are 3-0 in power-point games played prior to the tournament.

"I was worried yesterday when we played them because we were playing our second game of the day and Mesa was playing its first," Flores said. "We were tired. But we got some goals late in the game after we lost the lead (2-0). Today we got some early goals and played steady . I couldn't ask for a better group of guys, especially our seniors this year. Our captains (Alberto Camacho, Arturo Tapia and Arthur Munoz) are giving us great leadership."

Mesa (7-5)  was the team looking a step slow in the title game. The Jackrabbits had to rally from a 3-1 deficit to Westwood in the semfinals earlier Tuesday and did so a man short after senior captain Aaron Rivera received a red card. Mesa scored twice in the final minutes to tie and won in penalty kicks, 3-2. Freshman keeper Matt Winkler knock down three Westwood PKs in the shootout and Mesa's other captain, Zach Vickery, tallied the match-winning PK.