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Cottonwood Heights • They've got that look again, these Brighton Bengals. That look of a team ready, willing and able to play for a state championship later this month at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Brighton jumped on Syracuse early Friday evening, and bounced the Titans 35-14 in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs.

The win — Brighton's fifth in a row — sets up a quarterfinal game next week at Region 2 champion Hunter.

"I can feel it in practice, we're focused and we're ready," said Brighton quarterback Robbie Hutchins, who threw for a touchdown and ran for another Friday. "We're ready to go."

The Bengals' 35 points were eight below their season average, but still accounted for the highest output by a Syracuse opponent this season.

"We've been in a good rhythm now the last few weeks, so we kind of expected we were going to score," Brighton coach Ryan Bullett said. "We were just hoping we could slow them down a little bit. We didn't want to get into any kind of shootout with those guys."

Brighton, which lost to Bingham in last year's state title game, jumped ahead by two touchdowns before Syracuse (7-3) took an offensive snap.

Osa Masina's 1-yard touchdown run was followed by a squib kick and Titans fumble. Hutchins found Simi Fehoko for a 27-yard touchdown pass on the next play.

Brighton (9-1), added a Hutchins 1-yard run for a 21-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game.

"We knew we had to keep our foot on the gas pedal and keep scoring touchdowns," Hutchins said.

Masina finished with 117 yards and two touchdowns and also recorded one of Brighton's three interceptions against Syracuse quarterback Kole Tracy — all in the second half.

Tracy ran for a score and threw for another, but Brighton controlled the clock with 256 rushing yards and 26 first downs.

Sione Heimuli-Lund ran for 78 yards and a touchdown for Brighton. —

Brighton 35, Syracuse 14

O Osa Masina runs for 117 yards and two touchdowns as the Bengals advance to the quarterfinals.