ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Richard Nichols sensed the 2020 fall high school season was going to be "the year" for McDonogh School (Md.) boys soccer.

However, it never came to be.

McDonogh opted to not play any high school sports in the fall and, like the New England prep schools, did not offer a spring season for the fall sports teams. It ended up as an entire year lost. But Nichols, along with several other prep school players who did not get to play a single high school match this past school year, will get at least one "high school" game as he was among the 88 players selected for this year's High School All-America Game, which will be held Saturday in St. Louis at Chaminade High School.

The matches will be live-streamed on TopDrawerSoccer.

LINK FOR GIRLS MATCH, noon Eastern Time

LINK FOR BOYS MATCH, 2 p.m. Eastern Time

"I have to cram a lot into one game,” Nichols said with a laugh. "A practice and a game. That's all I have. But to play a high school game one more time -- even though it won’t be with my teammates -- is going to be awesome."

"This is a great way to end my high school experience," said Jack Anderson, a senior at [Loomis-Chaffee ct-m] (Conn.) who, like Nichols, was shut out of high school play when the New England prep schools canceled fall sports. 

"I'm excited to get out there and play against all of the great players," added Amanda Graziano of Taft School (Conn.). Graziano's school did not field fall sports teams this past school year. "This will be a celebration of all the work we put into high school soccer. It's really rewarding since we didn't have a season.”

In most years, the High School All-America rosters are set in late October for an early December match featuring fall-season players who were just finishing up their seasons. Event organizer Eric Stratman said he took a different approach for this year’s game, which is still labeled the 2020 contest despite being played in 2021. Since a number of states moved their fall seasons to the spring, Stratman placed the match at the end of May instead of December, but still limited the contest to traditional fall-playing states. In addition, he waived the requirement that invitees had to play their senior season, provided they had earned accolades the previous year.

"We could have had the game in April, but some states would not have been able to participate," Stratman said of moving the date to late May. "And, by playing this late it bought us 45 more days for this (pandemic) to clear up. I was seeing a lot of events scheduled, then canceled. These kids have been through a lot, I didn't want to do that to the kids, so playing in late May we were making sure we had something for them."

Stratman added that the May date has brought a new set of challenges to this annual event.

"There's been proms, graduations, even State Cup," he said. "But these kids have done everything they can to make it work, and that has not gone unnoticed by me."

The East vs. West format features 13 girls players ranked in the IMG 150, led by No. 3 prospect Emily Mason from Hunterdon Central (N.J.). Almost every female player has signed with an NCAA Division I program. More than half of the boys players have signed with NCAA Division I teams, including two bound for Duke in IMG 150 members Grant Farley from Gilman (Md.) and Jai Bean from South Kent School (Conn.).

The complete rosters can be found here. 

Anderson and Graziano, whose schools are members of the Founder's League which canceled fall high school sports, sat by idly as nearby public and some private schools moved forward with modified seasons.

"It stung for a little bit," said Anderson, who lives in Massachusetts yet attends and plays for a school in Connecticut. "A couple of players reached out to the athletic director (in hopes of getting in some sort of season), but it wasn't going to work out. It was frustrating, but I also understand why the school made the decision it did."

"I was on vacation when I heard there was not going to be a season," Graziano said. "I thought they would reverse the decision. There was a petition and a lot of conversation among student-athletes. We weren't going to throw in the towel. High school is an exciting time and we didn’t want it to end like this. (After the cancellation was confirmed), it took me a while to get over it."

For Nichols, he returned to high school play as a sophomore for a run at what is commonplace at McDonogh -- an MIAA title and a bid at a high national ranking. Everything seemed in order for the Eagles are they neared the 2020 season. 

Seven former Development Academy players were expected to join the roster of the defending MIAA champion, which already had multiple NCAA Division I commits returning from the 2019 campaign. The MIAA didn’t technically cancel the season but rather left it up to the individual schools. McDonogh decided not to play.  

"It was very depressing," Nichols said. "I was super shocked when we didn’t have a spring season, either."

Several of McDonogh's rivals, and fellow MIAA members, spun off to create a one-season Catholic League that got two-thirds of the way finished before it was shut down a week before playoffs due to rising COVID numbers in Maryland. McDonogh's rival, Mount St. Joseph, ran through the Catholic League with an undefeated record and finished No. 2 in the fall FAB 50. Nichols was well aware of that fact, knowing that just as easily could have been McDonogh in that conversation.