From there, however, the Titans caught fire, winning eight straight and cruising to an undefeated Region 1 season, which included a four-week stretch of outscoring league foes by a combined 180-6.

Eventually, the streak ended in the second round of the 6A state playoffs when Lone Peak scored a late touchdown to earn a 22-17 decision.

Only time will tell how this campaign plays out but, Friday evening, Syracuse commenced its season on more stable footing by accomplishing what it was unable to on opening night a year ago.

The Titans avenged a 27-25 loss to Riverton with a convincing 38-0 victory.

“I had as my screensaver me getting my helmet knocked off last year (against the Silverwolves),” Titan receiver DJ Mayes said. “So I’ve been waiting for this all year.”

Syracuse squandered a fourth-and-goal from the Riverton 1 midway through the first quarter and then threw an end zone interception with the ball at the 6 but, apart from that, there wasn’t much reason to dissect a stellar Titan performance.

“A few first-game jitter things,” Syracuse coach Mike Knight said. “Fourth-and-1, they did a good job stopping us there and then down here we threw the pick and (quarterback Jake Hopkins) wanted that one back.

“Then defensively, another shutout. Coach (Mitch) Tulane and his guys just did what they do and prepared the kids. And it was hard too because we had nothing on them, with (Riverton’s) Jimmy (Freeland) as a new coach. The only thing I can think of is that we dropped a couple of picks. That’s the only thing that sticks out.”

Offensively, the night belonged to Mayes and Lone Peak transfer Shaun Blanton. The 6-foot-3 receivers caused havoc all evening until they went to the bench with the game well in hand after three quarters.

But within the first 36 minutes of game action, they put on a show worth the price of admission. Blanton’s final stat line read 12 receptions for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Mayes also scored twice and caught eight balls for 117 yards. Meanwhile, Hopkins was adroitly delivering the ball, completing 26 of 36 attempts for well over 300 yards.

“Obviously, Shaun and DJ are going to be very difficult,” Knight said. “There aren’t too many guys around the state that have two guys like that. It’s pretty special and we’re pretty lucky to have those guys.”

Blanton put the Titans on the scoreboard with five seconds left in the first quarter when he hauled in an 8-yard lob from Hopkins.

“Since the first day I got here we’ve just been getting our chemistry going, me and ‘J Hop’ and all the receivers; just putting in that work,” Blanton said. “And so we came out here and it was just like another practice.”

Mayes caught a 29-yard tipped pass in the end zone shortly thereafter for his first points and then Blanton outfought a defender for a 6-yard score to give the Titans a 21-0 halftime lead.

The second half was more of the same. The Syracuse defense continued to be relentless while Hopkins kept finding his two favorite targets.

Hopkins threaded a 5-yard pass to Mayes in the end zone to make it 28-0 at the halfway point of the third quarter. Rhett Thompson drilled a 22-yard field goal and AJ DeHorney sprinted 28 yards through the heart of the Riverton defense to account for the final tally.

“It’s gonna get harder for us,” Knight cautioned. “We’ve got a gauntlet of a schedule coming up so we’ll definitely have to make some improvements but I like how we started, for sure.”