5A high school football preview: Syracuse at Lone Peak

Syracuse (6-3) at Lone Peak (9-1)

5A state tournament first round

Friday, 4 p.m.

Parry's Power Guide: Lone Peak by 8

All-time series: First meeting

Coach vs. Coach: Syracuse's Russ Jones and Lone Peak's Tony McGeary, first meeting

Last meeting: First meeting

There was a time this season when it appeared that Syracuse was taking a step back as a football program. The Titans lost three of four games and were in danger of dropping out of contention for the 5A playoffs.

That's ancient history now.

Syracuse enters its first-round playoff matchup with Lone Peak on a four-game winning streak. The Titans got back in contention for a playoff berth by beating some of the lower-tier teams in Region 1, and then solidified their postseason status by whipping Layton, 35-7, last week.

That victory kept Syracuse from having to play in a play-in game this week and gave it a full week to prepare for Lone Peak, the Region 4 champion. It was also the first time the Titans had beaten Layton after dropping their first three games in the series against the Lancers.

"That was a big win for us," said Syracuse coach Russ Jones. "The kids are real excited about it, still. They really wanted to beat Layton bad. They felt like they could go out and do it and they did."

Confidence hasn't always been a strong point for this Syracuse team. The Titans had to replace a lot of starters from last year's team, and losing three of four early in the season kind of rattled them.

"I think we've made huge strides." Jones said. "We've come on when we've needed to. The kids have started to rally together. They really started to focus more on getting better each day and each week. We only returned five kids from last year that were starters, and it's taken some time to get to know each other. They've grown together a lot in the last month."

Players such as Hunter Dimmick, who has recorded 12 sacks, and quarterback Tyler Jacobsen, who has accounted for 20 touchdowns, have helped the Titans become a more dangerous team in the last month.

But playing Lone Peak will be Syracuse's biggest challenge this season.