Syracuse » Immediately following the shock of Syracuse defeating Skyline 31-7 and advancing to the second round of the Class 5A state football tournament, Titans quarterback Tanner Russell accepted hugs from well-wishers, slaps on the back from friends and handshakes from coaches.

He also signed autographs.

To say that Russell had a career day would be an understatement. In leading his team to the win over the Eagles, Russell accumulated four touchdowns in the second half alone. He rushed for three scores, with the final one being an 83-yard beauty on a keeper up the middle, and he threw for another one to hulking tight end Rick Reardon.

That was enough to allow

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Prep football: Syracuse vs. Skyline
Syracuse, Region 1's second seed to handily defeat a Skyline team that played without star running back Algernon Brown for the entire second half.

"In the past, we haven't been a great second-half team," Russell said. "We wanted to come out against Skyline and really play well in the second half. We wanted to show that we really could play well after halftime."

With the win, the Titans will face the Jordan-Bingham winner, a game that will take place this afternoon at 2 p.m.

The Titans' defense -- the strength of this team for the bulk of two seasons -- was all over the Eagles after Brown went down. Syracuse forced Skyline into five second-half turnovers, and turned four of them into touchdowns.

Four of the

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turnovers came in the form of interceptions. Mitch Tulane picked off Eagles quarterback Chase Dunford twice. Alex Swanson picked him off a third time, and Cole Conner, a junior linebacker, got in on the action as well.

The defense, simply put, was a big key in the Titans being able to score 31 consecutive points to end the game.

"We knew that our defense has been the strength of this team this season," Swanson said. "I know that Algernon being out really hurt them. Without him, we were able to key on their wing backs much better."

Brown, one of the best running backs in the state and a BYU commit, hurt his knee at the end of the first quarter and didn't return. He sat on the bench for the remainder of the game and limped to the team bus after the final buzzer. The extent of his injury isn't known.

Andy Rounds scored the lone touchdown for Skyline, a 24-yard screen pass that put the Eagles on top 7-0. Skyline took a 7-3 lead into the half, but the turnovers and its inability to move the ball spelled doom in the second half.

tjones@sltrib.com