SYRACUSE — Head coach Mitch Tulane wanted Syracuse to execute the game plan on Friday against Layton, and he stressed the words "execute the game plan" in his voice.
It didn't take anyone very long to see that Syracuse was indeed doing what Tulane wanted, yielding a 52-7 win for the Titans (5-1, 1-0 Region 1) in the Region 1 opener.
Take each team's first two drives, for example:
- Syracuse's first two drives: 14 plays, 100 yards, two touchdowns
- Layton's first two drives: seven plays, -3 yards, one turnover
Kaleb Hall, a junior defensive back, nabbed three interceptions and recovered a fumble forced by Madden Nelson. Hall had dropped two interceptions in the season opener against Woods Cross, he said, and had nearly missed some other interceptions.
"Honestly, I was due for some picks," he said. "I didn't have any through the first five games, just a bunch of tackles. I think after this I'm gonna go get some more."
It was sort of emblematic of the Titans' defense, which had four turnovers in their first five games, and four (all Hall's) on Friday.
Syracuse led 42-7 at halftime, and held a 335-139 advantage in total yards of offense. The Lancers got 73 yards on one play — a Gavin Hurst touchdown run, and 37 more on a drive that ended in one of three interceptions for Hall.
The Titans' defense otherwise shut things down. Hall ended an earlier drive with an athletic, jumping interception.
Two other Layton drives ended in punts and a third ended with the second-quarter clock.
"I think that we get better each week, and I know that we needed our confidence built back up after the last two games," Hall said. "We hadn't been playing the greatest against Rigby and Alta, but this definitely brought our confidence up. I think we're gonna be ready for Davis next week."
Syracuse's offense was also cruising from the start.
Parker Moffat caught a screen pass from junior quarterback Ledger Wight for a touchdown on the game's first possession, then Wight scored a TD run, followed by a 21-yard Wight TD toss to Tanner Merrill for a 21-0 first-quarter lead.
Wight kept the ball for himself on a third-and-4, and ran 68 yards for a TD. All told, Wight was involved in four touchdowns and bumped his season totals to 15 TD passes and eight TD runs.
Hurst's 73-yard TD served as Layton's only answer, and was also almost double the amount of season rushing yards he had coming in (41). Syracuse's Ryker Van Komen then finished off consecutive long drives with two 1-yard TD runs for the 42-7 halftime lead.
Kao Prom ran for a 25-yard TD in the third quarter, and Skyler Orton made a 38-yard field goal in the fourth for the final margin after the third and final of Hall's picks (which came against two different quarterbacks, by the way).
Syracuse also beat the Lancers for the 16th straight time, with those 16 wins coming by an average of 24.2 points. All eyes turn towards next week's Region 1 showdown between Syracuse and Davis.
"We've got to execute the game plan again. Now, the game plan changes based off of what they do, and they weapons they have and the confidence they have. They play with so much confidence over there and when things get rolling, (Davis is) almost impossible to stop," Tulane said.
Layton (2-4, 0-1 Region 1) heads to Weber next week.
