Nicolas Valenzuela found the net in the 12th minute to put Salpointe up 1-0 and Leo Gutierrez scored in the 39th to make it 2-0 over Sunnyside at the half. The Lancers found themselves up 2-0 over the No. 2 team in the 5A Conference at the break but no one really felt that was enough until the goals kept coming and coming until Salpointe ended Thursday night with an improbable 6-0 victory at home.

Salpointe improved to 5-2 in power-ranking matches and the program will have to wait until the last rankings of the week coming out on Friday to see if they will move up from No. 6 in the 4A Conference. The Blue Devils are 7-2 in ranking matches with the two losses coming against the top-ranked team in the 6A Conference in Tucson High (8-0) and Salpointe. Those are known as “good losses” in the world of computer rankings and the Blue Devils need to focus on the four 5A Southern Region matches left with three of those being against playoff-bound squads in Cienega (6-1-1), Desert View (7-1) and Nogales (5-1-1).

Likewise, Salpointe has two losses against highly ranked squads in No. 1 Tucson and 5A No. 8 Catalina Foothills (6-2). The Lancers have the most difficult opponent rating in the top 15 in the 4A Conference. Only Douglas (2-5) has a higher opponent rating in projected playoff teams heading into the numbers yet to be released on Friday.

Salpointe keeper Owen Lynch came up big in the match with a couple of one-on-one saves in the opening minutes of the night that could have easily turned things the Blue Devil’s way but the Lancers kept the pressure on and Sergio Ruiz de Chavez put Salpointe up 3-0 in the 50th and then Gutierrez set the tone with his second goal of the night three minutes later to put Salpointe up 4-0.

Valenzuela scored his second goal in the 68th and Marco Torres added the sixth goal in the 78th minute. This is the most lopsided loss for the Blue Devils since Tucson beat the program 4-0 in 2015 and it’s the fourth time in the last five matches that the Lancers scored more than five goals.

Salpointe hosts No. 34 Sahuaro (0-6) on Tuesday and Sunnyside will travel to No.12 Cienega on the same night.

The play-in tournament for the 4A, 5A and 6A conferences are slated for Feb. 9 with the first round of the state playoffs are set for Feb. 12.