Cienega and Ironwood Ridge are doing their best to keep up with Salpointe as the best football teams in Tucson in Division II.

Remember, Cienega and Ironwood Ridge are taking a step up this year (4A-I to D-II. Salpointe is dropping a notch from 5A-I to D-II. After escaping a very solid Sabino (D-III) in its opener, coach Nemer Hassey's Cienega squad has vanquished Division I Buena and Sunnyside and buried D-II Catalina Foothills last Friday. Ironwood Ridge thumped Canyon del Oro in its season opener and has pummeled everyone else to date .Cienega and Ironwood Ridge have 4-0 records, a game better than Salpoiinte (3-1), which lost by a point to last year's 5A-II champ Chaparral.

Ironwood Ridge gets its best test since CDO this week. The Nighthawks host Marcos de Niza (3-1). Cienega may be challenged once the rest of the way. That's this week against Marana Mountain View, humbled by Salpointe last Friday. Cienega may be hurt overall by a weak schedule come playofff time. Ironwood Ridge faces Centennial and Salpointe later in addition to Marcos de Niza as mentioned earlier. Salpointe still faces CDO and Ironwood Ridge.

Despite losing a truck load of seniors last year, Queen Creek continues to roll under second-year coach Joe Germaine in Division III. The Bulldogs are 4-0, including wins over D-II Perry and Cactus Shadows. Queen Creek faces a tougher schedule later. A trio of October games with Higley, hard-charging newcomer Poston Butte and Wiliams Field will give Germaine a better idea of how good his 2011 team is.

Speaking of Williams Field, the Blackhawks lost a rare regular-season game last week to D-II CDO, 40-21. No shame in that. That's the kind of loss and competition Williams Field needs that it hasn't had often enough in the past. Coach Steve Campbell has a lot of new faces and the Blackhawks re still a lofty 3-1 in 2011.

Early-season success continues to be a breath of fresh air for Dobson, Corona del Sol and Gilbert, all Division I  schools competing in rugged Section II of D-I.

While that trio hasn't beaten the household powers yet, three wins for Corona are two more than all of last year. Three for Dobson is one more than last year. And Gilbert is off to its best start in Dan Dunn's second tour of duty with the Tigers. This is Dunn's third year of tour 2. Dunn's first two years -- 2009 and 2010 - Gilbert opened with records of 0-4, and 1-3. The Tigers rebounded to make the playoffs last year and stunned No. 2 seed Basha in the first round.