Alex Culwell and the Bullard High boys soccer team have been down this road before.

A year ago, the Knights entered County/Metro Athletic Conference play with a sub-.500 record before winning 10 of their final 13 games to reach the Central Section Division I final.

This year, while replacing 17 seniors, Bullard started 4-4-2 before CMAC play began this week.

But the Knights appear to be rounding into form again as evidenced by their 4-1 victory Thursday over league rival Sunnyside, which entered 12-2, including a win over defending section D-I champion and CIF Southern California Regional runner-up Buchanan.

"It's been up and down," said Culwell, who assisted on the Knights' first goal with an in-stride feed to Michael Escamilla and scored their fourth goal. "We started like this last year, too, then we started to build it up. We're gaining our composure."

Bullard coach Igal Francis, whose team debuts at No. 3 in The Bee's section rankings, has been around long enough to know there's no need to get worked up about the Knights' record before league play begins.

"The goal is always to keep improving," said Francis, who saw sophomore Carlos Ramirez come off the bench to score two goals against Sunnyside. "We don't put much stress early [in the season] on the players. The idea is to play our best in league and through the playoffs. I believe the preseason is to get teams ready. A lot of other teams obsess with winning early and it wears out the kids."

Central, which started 16-0 with 11 shutouts and climbed as high as No. 10 in ESPN's Fab 50 national rankings before dropping out last week, is The Bee's top-ranked team.

"Central is No. 1 based on their body of work," said Francis, whose Knights and No. 8 Clovis West are the only teams to defeat the Grizzlies this season. "They are difficult to beat and very few will beat them."

No. 2 Buchanan and No. 4 Bakersfield also appear to be Division I contenders, while Sunnyside, which got a goal from Daniel Llamas against Bullard, is top-ranked in Division II and No. 5 overall.

"There are several decent teams, a lot of parity," Francis said. "I think three or four may separate themselves from the pack, but on any given day, those three or four teams can be beaten. There are a lot of teams playing the game well. It's going to take a team that gets on a roll to win Division I."