When it comes to power rankings in soccer, the first weeks can be deceiving.

Some programs frontload the schedule, giving them more games before January, compared with those that have close to a dozen matches over the last three weeks of the regular season.

"It all evens out in the end, but there isn't much to the first few rankings," Highland (Gilbert) boys coach Rich Esperti said. "One win or loss can fluctuate the rankings a lot because there aren't many games. So you look at them but you know there is a long way to go."

The first set of rankings came out on Thursday for soccer, while basketball has been published since mid-December.

The top teams in the boys rankings were North Canyon (Phoenix) in Division I, Copper Canyon (Glendale) in Division II and Cortez (Phoenix) in Division III.

Xavier College Prep (Phoenix) in Division I, Notre Dame Prep (Scottsdale) in Division II and Walden Grove (Sahuarita) in Division III head up the girls rankings.

The state tournament begins Feb. 3 for the girls and Feb. 4 for the boys. The title games are at Campo Verde on Feb. 13 for Division III and Feb. 14 for Divisions I and II.

It leaves less than a month for teams to make up ground, while teams that lost their first handful of games are probably in trouble.

Those teams that have a backloaded schedule are going to be playing on nearly a daily basis down the stretch. It leaves little time to work on things in practice or prepare for the next game.

The Desert Vista (Phoenix) girls, which began Friday at No. 2 in Division I, have seven games through Jan. 29, making the schedule pretty compact.

The Thunder finished second at the Arizona Soccer Showcase, losing to Highland on New Year's Day, and followed it up with a 2-1 record this week, losing 2-0 to No. 1 Xavier.

"We are playing pretty good, especially our defense," Thunder coach Marvin Hypolite said after the loss to Highland, a team they beat in the power rankings earlier in the year. "We have a lot games in a short period."

The Highland boys dropped six spots to No. 12 after their first loss to No. 6 Hamilton (Chandler) this week, but the Hawks have made a solid transition in Esperti's initial campaign after coming over from Mesquite.

"Hamilton's probably the best team we've seen this year," Esperti said. "We were right there with them (in a 1-0 loss) but they controlled 75 percent of the game. We've implanted our system and let them play.

"It's been an easy transition with the coaching staff we brought over. We have good group of soccer players."

The Hawks have seven more matches to improve their positioning heading into the postseason. The seed sets the path and serves as a barometer, but it doesn't determine who qualifies for championship weekend.

That happens on the field.

"We have a good feel for where we are at," Esperti said. "We have to finish strong and take our chances in February."

Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic and current Prep Sports Director for 1013 Communications, is a 20-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com or 480-272-2449.