SALINAS >> Rather than playing the role of sacrificial lamb, landing in the Central Coast Section Open Division football playoffs is embraced by Salinas High coach Steve Zenk — viewed as a reward for its body of work.

Zenk has never been bashful about the challenges in front of the Cowboys, even though he’s just 2-5 in the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs since winning it all in 2017.

“It means you’re one of the best eight teams in the entire section,” Zenk said. “I’ll take that every year. Some years you won’t be as competitive. Some years you will.”

Seeded No. 8 this year’s playoffs, the 8-2 Cowboys travel to San Francisco when they face top seed St. Ignatius (8-2) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Unlike the last two postseasons, where four-time defending champion Serra of San Mateo was among the best teams in the state, the field in the Open Division this fall is as balanced as it’s been since 2017.

“It seems like the field is pretty competitive from 1-8,” Zenk said. “Limiting mistakes and capitalizing on mistakes will be critical.”

For the first time since Zenk took the program eight years ago — including the pandemic-shortened spring — Salinas is not going into the postseason as a league champion.Its lone setbacks this season were to Central Section power Clovis, which is ranked No. 4 in its section, and Soquel, which is the No. 6 seed in the Open Division.

“It’s the second season,” Zenk said. “That is in the past. We’ve changed things a little with how we’re doing practices. But the vibe remains intact and that’s to get a little better each day.”

The two teams do have a common opponent in Valley Christian of San Jose, which the Cowboys defeated 24-7 in their season opener, while St. Ignatius posted a 20-13 decision three weeks ago.

“It’s hard to draw comparisons,” Zenk said “It is always about matchups and who is winning the one-on-one matchups. St. Ignatius does remind quite a bit of Soquel.”

Finishing in a tie at the top of the West Catholic Athletic League with St. Francis of Mountain View, the Wildcats have had playoff-type games all season, with four wins decided by five points or less.

“They play really good defense and don’t make mistakes on offense,” Zenk said. “They run the spread and do it quite well. They run extra bodies in to run the ball.”

St. Ignatius has a roster with four linemen over 300 pounds, including 6-foot-7, 345-pound guard Max Spertxel.

That, in turn, has helped spring tailback Jarious Hogan, who has rushed for over 1,000 yards and 17 touchdowns, while catching 15 passes for four touchdowns.

“He’s talented,” Zenk said. “And the quarterback is pretty accurate and does a good job. They are long on the outside and big up front. WCAL kids are always big.”

St. Ignatius runs a balanced offense with quarterback Soren Hummel throwing for over 1,500 yards and 14 touchdowns, completing 67 percent of his passes, with Zui Shelton and Quinn Folk combining for 70 catches.

“You can’t worry about making mistakes,” Zenk said. “But you want to minimize them. When we are focused for four quarters, we’re really good. We have not hit our ceiling yet.”

An opportunist Salinas defense has produced four touchdowns this season — game-changing type scores in wins over Palma and Valley Christian.

Linebacker Jake Mungaray has recorded 129 tackles, while Jackson Scott has five sacks. Gavin Flynn has collected a team-high three interceptions, with Wyatt Maravilla solidifying the secondary.

“We work on forcing turnovers,” Zenk said. “Scoop and score. Good things happen when you play hard. I’ve been pleased with all three phases this year. We stress ‘be happy but never satisfied.’”

Whether it is a coincidence or not, in both of Salinas’ losses this season, it scored just 14 points. Yet, in its eight wins, the offensive is averaging 36.2 points a game.

Since returning from an ankle sprain, quarterback Rico Maturino has thrown for 982 yards and 10 touchdowns in his past four games for Salinas.

It doesn’t hurt having arguably the most explosive receiver in the county to throw the ball to in Emarrcis Turner, who has 59 catches for 958 yards.

Turner has also returned a fumble for a touchdown on defense, accounting for 11 touchdowns this fall. Yet, despite having games with 12 and 13 catches, he’s just one target that Maturino can pick from in shredding defenses.

Amani Laing, who might be the fastest player on the team, emerged last week with a 100-plus yard receiving game, while Madden Eubanks and Brady Ballesteros are reliable options.

“You can’t just focus on one player in our offense,” Zenk said. “We have several playmakers in the passing game. But if we want to win this game, at some point we have to control the clock.”

Meaning Salinas has to establish a ground game, where Dayven Marquez and Brandon Palma have combined for nearly 1,300 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Look for Turner to get a carry or two on a jet sweep, where he’s produced two touchdowns, while Maturino has quietly rushed for nearly 300 yards on quarterback options.

“We’ve had good energy this week,” said Zenk, who won his 100th game last week. “I think we’re peaking at the right time. We have not played our best game.”