Two weeks. From now until Feb. 10, soccer teams from 4A, 5A and 6A will be deciding region champions and playoff seeding and it’s all part of the mixer we call, “February Frenzy.”

Like all team sports, matches played during invitationals have no bearing on rankings so a large portion of games played so far will not be used for seeding so region play becomes even more important to the process. The 5A and 6A conferences do not recognize region champions as far as the state playoffs go but region play still makes up a good portion of power-ranking games.

The 3A and 4A conferences reward region champions with a guaranteed spot in the postseason and the 3A Conference is already deep into region play but this is not the case for 4A power programs like Salpointe and Catalina Foothills and it’s making for a confusing reading of the current state rankings.

For example, Catalina Foothills started Thursday morning ranked No. 15 which is far from the ranking the Falcons are used to. In fact, from 2001 to 2019 the Falcons entered the playoffs with an average ranking of 2.5 with 11 years of being the top-ranked team in the 4A Conference. A No. 15 ranking made no sense. But it does, because it’s based on the minimal info available.

The Falcons added to their résumé Thursday night with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at No. 17 Canyon del Oro. The teams played even on the score board until Hannah Draper scored on PK to put Catalina Foothills up 1-0 in the 61st minute.

Megan Clark and Kalyn Dooley combined for 14 saves on the night and one of those was a PK save by Dooley in the 58th minute. The Dorados tied things back up in the 64th after Mikayla Moose scored off a rebound. The Falcons came up empty on 11 corners but the 12th attempt proved to be the game-winner after Ellie Robinson used a header on a put back in the 69th.

The win moved the Falcons to the top of 4A Kino Region thanks, in part, to a tie between No. 3 Sahuaro and No. 9 Salpointe. The race for the 4A Kino Region should be wild but the best team in Southern Arizona at this point has to be Cienega.

The Bobcats are No. 4 in the 5A Conference with wins over Catalina Foothills and Salpointe.

The playoff picture should make sense in a week or so.