SALINAS >> Their paths on historic runs last season brought respect to a region that doesn’t always pop up when you’re talking high school football in California.

The hardware Palma and Soquel gathered in the postseason included a Central Coast Section title, a Northern California crown and a state divisional championship.

About the only thing that eluded both programs last fall was the Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan Division title, which has run through Salinas High the past six years.

The Chieftains and Knights will get reacquainted Friday with league title aspirations still very much a vision entering this 6 p.m. game at Soquel.

“Soquel has a core of players from that state team,” Palma coach Jeff Carnazzo said. “A lot of my guys graduated. Experience is huge. It will be tough on the young guys.”

On the heels of an emotional 39-25 loss to Salinas, the Chieftains are looking to avoid their first 0-2 league start in 40 years, while Soquel had a bye week to gear up.

“Sometimes byes can be a distraction,” Carnazzo said. “But Soquel is such a well-coached team. And they had the ability to watch us in person last week.”

Carnazzo is relying on film to dissect the Knights, who after a pair of seven-point losses to open the season, have outscored their past two opponents 90-13.

“What the film tells me is that Soquel is really good,” Carnazzo said. “They’re big and strong up front. The quarterback is solid. I don’t see many weaknesses in this team.”

In last year’s game, Knights’ quarterback Sam Whelan hit Jordan McCord on two big plays for touchdowns — including one in the fourth quarter to break up a 7-7 tie in a 14-7 win.

Whelan has been sharp this year, completing 71 percent of his passes, throwing for over 500 yards, with just one pick in the Knights (2-2) first four games.

“I actually feel Soquel is more solid all-around than they were last season — on both sides of the ball,” Carnazzo said. “It seems like they reloaded.”

The Knights have progressively grown as a program, having jumped four divisions in five years in the Pacific Coast Athletic League — with just one league title to their credit in 2022.

Their two losses this fall have come against Los Gatos and San Ramon, who are a combined 9-0.

“They just look more balanced this year,” Carnazzo said. “There are a number of different guys that are involved in the offense. Last year it felt like we got beat on two plays.”

Soquel’s attack starts with Whelan, who was 7-of-7 three weeks ago against Valley Christian for 148 yards, while adding a 52-yard touchdown run.

The ground game has been equally potent for the Knights, averaging just under 7 yards each time it touches the ball, with Tyreis Lundy having rushed for 271 yards in just 39 carries.

By comparison, sophomore Eli Dukes is coming off a 35-carry effort, in which he finished with 198 yards against a stingy Salinas defense.

“That’s not sustainable,” insisted Carnazzo. “We have to develop a third back if we are going to commit to this. We want to spread the carries out.”

It wasn’t that Carnazzo didn’t attempt to spread it out, as Izaac Hernandez rushed for 102 yards in 17 carries, scoring the game’s first two touchdowns.

Dukes, who arrived five games into last season as a freshman, has already rushed for 785 yards on 101 carries, with a punishing style of running.

“We also need to make sure we’re giving some opportunities to our quarterback,” Carnazzo said. “He put us in a position last week to have a shot at the end.”

Carnazzo has gradually given sophomore quarterback Patrick Driscoll more freedom to show off his arm, as he’s coming off a season-high 16 attempts.

“I feel we’re getting there with our identity,” Carnazzo said. “We want to use our physicality up front and lean on our offensive line to move the ball.”

In other words, Palma (3-2) is comfortable going on methodical sustained drives that chew up the clock and limit the opponents’ possessions.

“We want to shorten the game,” said Carnazzo, whose losses this season to Yuma Catholic and Salinas — two teams that are a combined 8-1 — have come in the fourth quarter.

Part of the Chieftains’ development this fall has included 12 sophomores seeing extensive time, including four starters on offense and four on defense.

“We’ve put them in a lot of big moments, and they’ve responded,” Carnazzo said. “At the same, you have to live with the development issues and missed opportunities.”

The strength of the Knights could very well be their defense, which has given up just 13 points in their last two games and 41 on the season.

While Palma gave up more points last week (39) then it had in the entire season, it’s somewhat misleading as 14 of those points were scored by Salinas’ defense.

Dominic Chaidez has been dynamic in the secondary for Palma, along with two kickoff returns for touchdowns, while Caden Scherer and Griffin Stoffel have been all over the field.

“We have to take better care of the ball and eliminate the mistakes,” Carnazzo said. “We won’t surprise Soquel with our game plan.”

Carnazzo sees the big picture. With each game, the Chieftains are putting together a resume that could bode well in the postseason.

“We have a lot of 15-year-olds facing 17- and 18-year-olds,” Carnazzo said. “It’s a big difference. We have put them in tough situations. We’ve exposed them to adversity. I like the direction we are headed.”