CARMEL >> Except for the venue, this season’s Carmel-North Salinas football game seems very familiar.

For the second consecutive year, the two teams are undefeated, with title hopes dancing in their heads going into their Saturday’s 2 p.m. divisional meeting at Carmel High.

While Carmel’s road to perfection hasn’t had a lot of bumps this season, North Salinas has taken its lunch-pail attitude to a 4-0 start in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division South.

“I have yet to find a weakness of Carmel on film,” North Salinas coach Ben Ceralde said. “They look faster and bigger than last year. It’s a pretty dynamic team.”

Owners of 19 consecutive regular season wins, the reigning Mission Division champion Padres (7-0 overall) are averaging 47.1 points a game during their school-record run.

North Salinas (6-2 overall) is “a program with kids that have experienced success at all levels,” Carmel coach Golden Anderson said. “They’ve won a lot of football games collectively in their program. It was a battle last year.”

Anderson was referring to a wild 50-36 Carmel win, in which the game was tied at 36 going into the fourth quarter.

The Padres recovered two onside kicks in the final eight minutes, chewing up the clock and limiting North Salinas to one possession.

“I think they only ran four or five plays in the quarter,” Anderson said. “We had a few things go our way. If we don’t possess the ball for as long as we did, the results are probably different.”

The past two seasons, Carmel has tried onside kicks at what seemed like random times. The Padres have a high success rate this year.

“When you know it’s coming, it’s more about kids sacrificing their bodies and willing to catch the ball,” Ceralde said. “But you don’t know how the ball is going to bounce.”

The two teams have engaged in three tightly contested battles over the past three years with the Padres prevailing 7-0 in 2022 and North Salinas posting a 28-21 win in 2021.

“The message all week — all year long — is we can’t control what other teams do,” Ceralde said. “We can control how we practice, how we prepare and how we show up to games.”

Adversity has challenged North Salinas this fall, having lost their quarterback three weeks ago along with a handful of starters to injuries, forcing Ceralde to move players to other positions to fill needs.

Yet, the Vikings have rattled off four straight wins, with the defense posting a pair of shutouts to keep them undefeated in league play.

Anchored by Harvey Xiong, Sean Nimuan and freshman Nathan Barajas, North Salinas’ defense has posted three shutouts this fall, the first time that has occurred since the mid-1980s.

“Defensively they’re good, sound tacklers and aggressive,” Anderson said. “You can see a lot of those kids have played youth football. Not every school has that luxury.”

Slowing down Carmel’s high-octane attack has proven to be futile for any team during its 19-game winning streak.

The Padres have topped 40 or more points 15 times during their record run, including five times this year, putting them among the state leaders in average points per game.

“We don’t care what it (offense) looks like or how it looks,” Anderson said. “If we think it puts us in a good position, or opens up space, we’re going to do it.”

Anderson was referring to an arsenal of receivers that quarterback Hudson Rutherford has in his offense, including Simeon Brown, Ty Arnold, Brooklyn Ashe, Ashton Rees and Matt Maxon.

Completing a high percentage of his passes, Rutherford has thrown for nearly 1,800 yards and 17 touchdowns this fall, with four different receivers having three or more touchdown receptions.

“Hudson doesn’t gloss over the detail work,” Anderson said. “He’s not too comfortable that he’s not focused on his details. He goes about his work as if he’s never played the position.”

In an effort to maximize all his skill-position athletes, Anderson has moved Rees behind center in the Wildcat formation, where he’s rushed for 26 touchdowns in his past 19 games.

“To me a lot of their short passes are an extension of the running game,” Ceralde said. “Carmel has athletes that can make plays in space.”

When he’s not catching passes, Rees has become a threat in the backfield, following Alabama-bound tackle Jackson Lloyd for a team-high 525 yards in just five games.

“These kids don’t care who gets the credit,” Anderson said. “They’re living in the moment, not looking back. Just watch the reaction on the sidelines when another kid does something well.”

The Vikings have presented unique challenges to opponents all season by running two different offenses, sometimes on the same drive.

Depending on what the defense dictates, North Salinas could open with a spread and switch to a Wing-T, where backup quarterback Izaiah Gonzalez has excelled.

“Usually, teams have a formation they run out of,” Anderson said. “These guys run two different systems, which is rare. The kids seem comfortable in it. Credit the coaching staff.”

Gonzalez, who was a defensive back three weeks ago, has provided another dimension for North Salinas behind center with his legs, while building a bond with receiver RJ Leota, combining for three touchdowns in the past two games.

“With the ball in Izaiah’s hands, his behavior sparks,” Ceralde said. “It’s like a magic wand. He flourishes with the ball in his hands.”

Gonzalez is equipped to run the spread or Wing-T for North Salinas, where he’s a threat to run along with freshman Dylan Reynoso and tailback Darrel Camel.

“We knew over the summer that Dylan was going to get some playing time,” Ceralde said. “We didn’t bring him up to watch. I have never seen a freshman work so hard and take pride in that.”

What Ceralde would like to do is control the game on the ground, chew up the clock and limit Carmel’s possessions — much like it did to them in the fourth quarter last year.

“The benefit of running two styles of offenses is the defense has to prepare for both,” Ceralde said. “We feel we’ve simplified it. We can do both in the same series if it warrants it.”

While North Salinas has traditionally not fared well in Saturday games, it did snap a four-game losing streak earlier this year with a win.

“One thing we’ve done this year is have the kids come stretch on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. after a Friday game,” Ceralde said. “We do some light running, feed them and watch film.”

Being an underdog doesn’t fuel North Salinas or create a fire inside the locker room. Regardless of the opponent, the mindset is about execution and limiting the mistakes.

“We’re a humble group,” Ceralde said. “Our attitude is we can be competitive if we play as one. We know the opponent is good. But why can’t we be just as good?”