SALINAS >> Every Alisal play, Jayden Duarte took the snaps behind center — until the final drive of the game.

Getting the ball into the hands of the Trojans’ most explosive football player remained a priority — just the way it was done changed. Duarte moved to receiver in the final two minutes of Friday’s Central Coast Section Division V quarterfinals.

“Jayden is the best athlete on the field against any opponent,” Alisal coach Francisco Estrada said. “We needed to make sure he was in a position to stretch the field and catch the ball.”

Duarte caught four passes on the Trojans’ final drive before returning to quarterback and calling his own number from 6 yards out with six seconds left in the game, scoring to lift them to a 21-16 win over Overfelt.

“We made the mistake in Week 2 not to end the game with the horse that got us there,” said Estrada, in speaking about a 20-19 loss to North Salinas. “We weren’t going to make that mistake a second time.”

As result, the No. 2 seeded Trojans (6-5) will host their first-ever semifinal playoff football game next Friday at 7 p.m., against Leland — 30-20 winners over Stevenson — for a shot to return to the section finals.

“Our mind is already on Leland,” Estrada said. “We don’t know anything about them. The focus has been on Overfelt. But they are top four seed for a reason.”

Alisal and Leland have played just once before — in the 2006 CCS Large School playoffs, where the Trojans fell 47-41 in San Jose.

Estrada, who is in his first year as the Trojans head coach, had the same knot in his stomach leading up to the game as he did as a player when he was the quarterback of the school’s first-ever league title team.

“I would be lying if I said there wasn’t some anxiety,” Estrada said. “I teared up three times during the day. But once I got into the locker room, I felt good about things.”

Alisal came into the game having won three of its last four Mission Division North games to clinch the second playoff spot out of the division.

Duarte, who tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Garcia just before the half to give Alisal a 14-8 lead, came out of the huddle on Alisal’s final drive, flanking the outside.

“I think the main thing was making sure the kids understood and embraced the moment,” Estrada said. “We’ve practiced this before. The conversation was more about calm your nerves.”

Needing to go 76 yards in less than two minutes, Hector Politron came in to quarterback, and orchestrated Alisal’s two-minute drill, finding Duarte four times on the nine-play drive, including a 45-yard reception.

With the ball sitting at the 6-yard line, Estrada inserted Duarte back at quarterback, where he took a direct snap and followed his line into the end zone to create jubilation on the Alisal sidelines.

“It’s hard to get off this train right now,” Estrada said.

Alisal took an early 7-0 lead on a 28-yard touchdown run from Caleb Gabriel. A pick from Carlos Zamora halted an Overfelt drive in the first half.

Open Division

St. Ignatius 45, Salinas 7

Being labeled a top-eight team in the Central Coast Section high school playoffs is becoming more of a badge of courage rather than an honor in football.

Unlike other sports in the Central Coast Section that possess an Open Division, which includes an extension into the state playoffs, football has no reward for being put into the highest division based on points — unless you win.

That doesn’t often translate well to lower-seeded teams as for the third straight year, Salinas was ousted from the Open Division by a No. 1 seed, falling 45-7 Friday to St. Ignatius of San Francisco.

“I think our current system benefits the middle of the pack big schools and that’s about it,” said Salinas football coach Steve Zenk, in reference to “A” league teams being placed in Division II or III. “A” leagues are the most competitive of the three classifications (A-C) in the section.

In the Cowboys last three CCS Open Division battles, they have been outscored 149-35, with each loss coming against the top seed in the division.

“They were good,” said Zenk, in speaking about St. Ignatius. “You don’t win that league unless you’re good. They were a lot bigger than us, with good push at the point of attack. The running back was good and made the right cuts.”

Zenk was speaking about running back Jarious Hogan, who rushed for 223 yards on 26 carries for the Wildcats (9-2), who shared the West Catholic Athletic League title with St. Francis, which they will face next week in the Open Division finals.

“We killed ourselves on our first three drives with seven penalties,” Zenk said. “Stupid stuff. Pressure and nerves. Once we settled down, we were in catchup mode. That’s never fun in the playoffs.”

The Cowboys (8-3) never got untracked offensively, while St. Ignatius continued to build its lead, opening up a 28-0 halftime lead and extending it to 45 points in the fourth quarter.

“I’m going to set the record straight,” Zenk said. “I’ve never said we have the best football players. I’ve said we have the best kids. We’re learning to grow and become better men. That’s what I care about.”

It didn’t help Salinas that quarterback Rico Maturino suffered an injury and left the game in the second half, although freshman Michael Andrade showed glimpses of the future, completing 14-of-18 passes for 100 yards.

“I started thinking about next year 20 minutes ago,” Zenk said. “We had some sophomores and freshmen that got some time. We had a great senior class. It’s the most fun I think I’ve had as a coach. I get to be 17 years old every day in my job.”

Division II

Menlo-Atherton 35, Monterey 7

There would be no redemption for the banged-up Toreadores, who fell for the second time this year to Menlo-Atherton in the Division II playoffs.

Already dealing with the loss of quarterback Preston White over the past four games, Monterey was without two more starters, who got hurt in the team’s nonleague finale against Seaside.

“It was just poor timing,” Monterey coach Alex Besaw said. “We were down two key starters. Our inside backer was ill. We already were thin to begin with. Kids did a nice job of stepping up when their number was called. We just didn’t have enough firepower.”

Besaw has had four different players take snaps behind center with moderate results as Monterey went 3-1 in White’s absence, with the only loss coming from Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan Division champion Soquel.

“Losing Preston changed everything for us,” Besaw said. “We run a very quarterback-friendly offense. We probably had no business being in this position. I’m super proud of how these kids responded being put in the position we were in.”

Over the final four games of the regular season, Monterey rode the legs of tailback Enobong Wirth, who produced a pair of 200-plus yard rushing efforts, scoring in the first half to momentarily tie the game 7-7.

“As a play caller, you want to stay committed to the run,” Besaw said.

“At the same time, you want to be balanced. You try not to get desperate and throw too much. It’s tough when you fall behind. We might have tried to force some things to happen.”

Besaw was referring to a pick-six by Menlo-Atherton — which finished behind Wilcox and Los Gatos in the Peninsula Bay Division — that staked them to a 21-7 lead in the first half.

“At that point, we’re just trying to play catchup,” said Besaw, who has guided Monterey to the playoffs in each of his first three years.

“We got rotations going. Unfortunately, the writing was on the wall.”

Three of the four teams Monterey (6-5) fell to this season are still alive in the Central Coast Section playoffs.

Besaw praised the efforts of defensive ends Jayden Brown and Jamar Aquino, defensive tackle/center Elijah Fisher and linebacker Ethan Bonilla.

“We will be super young next year,” Besaw said. “It will be a big off-season of evaluating to see what holes we need to fill. We will be reevaluating what we do on offense and defense. How can we get better and make it simple for the young kids?”

Division IV

Burlingame 17, North Salinas 14

It crossed Ben Ceralde’s mind as he walked off the field, seeing the Vikings’ season come to an end in another postseason nailbiter.

“It felt like it was a repeat of last year,” the North Salinas football coach said.

Having fallen 21-20 last year to Leigh, a touchdown with 55 seconds left lifted host Burlingame past North Salinas in the Division IV playoffs.

“There was a lot of excitement, maybe too much excitement,” Ceradle said. “We lost some focus in the final minute. We had two big plays that pushed them back. Then Burlingame converted that long play. That took momentum from us.”

Ceralde was referring to a pair of tackles for losses that put the Panthers (7-4) in a fourth-and-25. A broken play resulted in a 28-yard gain, setting up the game-winning touchdown.

“Our defense was on the field most of the game,” said Ceralde, who has taken North Salinas to the playoffs in three of the past four years.

“Burlingame controlled the ball two-thirds of the first half.”

Yet, the No. 6 seeded Vikings (7-4) found themselves up 14-10 in the fourth quarter when Sean Nimuan took a direct snap and scored from 1-yard out.

Earlier in the game, Kamari Hunter — the brother of Cal receiver Nyziah Hunter — had a 10-yard touchdown run to cut Burlingame’s 10-point lead to three.

“We had two straight years of consistency,” Ceralde said.

“That includes the lower levels. I think expectations are a lot easier at this point. I think our program is coming together. There is an expectation of how and why we do things.”

Burlingame, which finished third in the Peninsula De Anza Division behind King’s Academy and Capuchino, was limited on offense by North Salinas’ defensive front four of Jason Valencia, Hugo Valencia, JJ Sepulveda and Harvey Xiong.

Division IV

Branham 50, North County 21

In what still feels like a blur to head coach Juan Cuevas, a seven-point lead with 18 minutes left in the game turned into a 29-point season-ending loss for the Mission Division North champion Condors.

“We ran out of juice,” Cuevas said. “We had to switch our offense and formations when both tight ends went down. Things started to pile up. Just some weird things transpired. I’ve never seen four or five penalty calls reversed in the same game.”

On the heels of the program’s first outright league title in 25 years, North County was in the postseason for the first time since 2010, posting its first winning season in 14 years.

“Obviously there were a lot of tears,” Cuevas said. “It’s over. We had a historical run. We had kids trust me three years ago. I would much rather be crying in the playoffs than in a regular season game that’s just for pride.”

Seeded No. 7 in Division IV, the Condors had Branham on its heels in the third quarter when Cuevas pulled out his bag of tricks, as Chris Rasmussen took five steps after a handoff, before tossing it Kenji Mellin for a touchdown, staking them to a 21-14 lead.

“We had all the momentum at that point,” Cuevas said.

“But we haven’t been here (in the playoffs) before. We were facing an ‘A’ league team. We were giving it all we got. Then penalties broke the kids.”

The No. 2 seeded Bruins proceeded to run off 36 unanswered points in the final 18 minutes to end the Condors’ milestone season.

The Condors built a 7-0 lead on an AJ Gomez to JT Islas 40-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.

They then retook a 14-8 lead into the half when Gomez added a 9-yard scoring run.

“I made sure I took a moment after the game to remind these kids this season was built off those 7 a.m. off-season workouts,” Cuevas said.

“Those that are up next, you have to earn it. We’ve become a respected program. That’s all I ever wanted.”

Division V

Leland 30, Stevenson 20

With 21 juniors and a handful of sophomores coming back next fall, the postseason just added another building block to the Pirates.

A five-game winning streak came to a halt for the Santa Lucia Division champions, who fell to No. 3 seed and perennial postseason contender Leland of San Jose (8-3).

“What was keeping me up at night this week was playing a program that historically is always in the playoffs,” Stevenson coach Kyle Cassamas said. “This was our second appearance in 24 years.”

The Chargers, whose only loss in the Santa Teresa Athletic League came against 10-0 Willow Glen, will go into next Friday’s semifinal game against Alisal having won six of their past seven games.

“I didn’t feel we were outmatched in any way physically,” Cassamas said. “It came down to making the plays when it mattered. We made some costly mistakes. We can learn from that.”

A fearless Pirates (7-3) program jumped out to a 6-0 lead when Fin Mink connected with Derek Diniz on a touchdown in the opening quarter.

“Then they hit us with a trick play and scored,” Cassamas said. “We were playing catchup from that point. And we turned it over a couple of times.”

One of those turnovers came on the Pirates’ own 2-yard line, leading to a quick Leland score.

The score enabled them to build a two-score cushion.

“Experience and nerves,” Cassamas said. “That’s what we’re trying to build toward. We love our seniors. But in looking around, the future is definitely bright.”

Among those coming back is Mink, who is a junior.

He threw for over 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns this season. He finished with 290 yards and a touchdown.

Junior Caden Olson put together a career night with 12 catches for 205 yards, while junior Tono Borgamini rushed for a touchdown.

“We just couldn’t come back from the turnovers,” said Cassamas, who has guided Stevenson to a 19-7 overall record over the past three seasons.

Tommy Dayton played his final game for Stevenson, finishing with 13 tackles, while adding a rushing touchdown.

Flint Dickson and sophomore Cody Thacher were applauded by Cassamas for their tenacious defense.