SALINAS >> Through its climb over the past five years from the lowest division in the Pacific Coast Athletic League to the highest, just one league title had been achieved in Soquel’s four stops.

Now make that two.

Signature wins are hard to come by when you’ve won a state football title. Yet, knocking off a six-time league champion constitutes that honor after the Knights’ 35-14 win Friday over host Salinas.

“Dwight (Lowery) has done a great job with that program,” Salinas coach Steve Zenk said. “Soquel dictated the tempo. We made mistakes we normally don’t make. We’ll get better on Monday.”

For Salinas to gain a portion of a seventh straight Gabilan Division title, it would have to beat Hollister next Friday and hope that the Knights get upset by Aptos.

Since joining the Gabilan Division in 2023 and falling to Salinas in their league opener last year, the Knights have won 10 straight league games, securing no worse than a share of the title.

Both teams came into the game riding six-game winning streaks, with Soquel’s two nonleague losses at the start of the year coming against teams a combined 16-2, while the Cowboys (7-2) lone setback was to Central Section power Clovis.

“Soquel’s defense might be better than what we saw from Clovis,” Zenk said. “Soquel clamped down and played great defense in shutting us down.”

The Knights also did a solid job in containing explosive receiver Emarrcis Turner, who came into the game with 25 catches for 368 yards and three touchdowns in his past two games. The senior finished with just four catches for 31 yards.

Zenk, who came into the game needing one more win to achieve 100 for his coaching career, is now 42-3 in the Gabilan Division since taking the reins eight years ago.

“No question we’ve set a standard here,” Zenk said. “Whether we’re talking about wins or losses, we’re still Cowboys. The goal is to still get better on Monday.”

Both teams have already clinched playoff spots, which for Salinas will be its 16th consecutive trip to the Central Coast Section party. Both are likely ticketed for the Open Division/Division I bracket.

“I don’t follow it that closely,” Zenk said. “But we will still be in the Open Division no matter what. I’m guessing now we’ll probably be a seven or eight seed.”

Salinas’ last two trips to the postseason have ended in losses to State power Serra of San Mateo in the Open Division. Last fall Soquel won the CCS Division II title, enroute to beating Jurupa Hills of Fontana 28-7 in the State Division 4AA title game.

“We have to watch film and see where we need to get better at,” Zenk said. “The privilege of being a Cowboy is we always expect more.”

An impressive opening drive by the Cowboys saw them march down field, chewing up over six minutes of the clock before Brandon Palma took a handoff on fourth down and scored from 1-yard out.

“We went right down the field and do what we do,” Zenk said. “Then we helped extend their drive and they scored. We did not have an answer, which is unlike us.”

In fact, the Knights, who are 20-4 over the past two years, ran off 35 unanswered points to build a 28-point cushion into the fourth quarter, as Salinas did not score again until late in the game when Rico Maturino found Madden Eubanks for a touchdown.

“They just played their brand of football,” Zenk said. “I thought the quarterback did a good job. He was always looking down field with his eyes. We’ve watched him mature over the last three years.”

Zenk was speaking about quarterback Sam Whelan, who tossed a pair of touchdowns in the first half, making critical throws to keep drives alive.

Salinas, however, couldn’t contain tailback Tyreis Lundy, who rushed for 219 yards, helping the Knights pile up 280 yards on the ground and 419 total yards.

“We did not capitalize when we had opportunities on either side of the ball,” Zenk said.

Zenk was referring to the Cowboys getting a stop on defense, then blocking a punt to put themselves at the 12-yard line in what was still a two-touchdown deficit in the third quarter.

The Knights, who have allowed the least amount of points in the Gabilan Division — 92 through nine games — stopped Salinas on four straight plays to zap any momentum generated.

“We did some good things offensively and defensively,” Zenk said. “You just can’t make mistakes against a program like that. We will learn from this and improve. That is what we do.”