By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

KINSLEY -- A visibly frustrated Clint Taylor stood by himself and collected his thoughts after the Thomas More Prep-Marian football team broke its postgame huddle Friday night.

Taylor put his head down into his helmet for a few seconds. Then, Taylor clenched his arms, lifted his helmet above his head before he dropped his arms and followed his teammates off the field.

TMP-Marian lost, 15-13, to Kinsley in the 2008 season opener. The Monarchs rolled up 244 yards of total offense, had several long drives, blocked a punt and allowed the second-fewest points since 2005.

Yet, the Monarchs committed several major penalties that stalled drives. Kinsley also stopped TMP-Marian on a potential game-tying 2-point conversion in the second half and, on a unique play, earned a first down after the Monarchs blocked the punt.

"I thought we could come out and put up a lot more than we did, hold them to a lot less than we did," Taylor said. "I thought we could get more on the ground and not make less mistakes is what I am really frustrated about. I am not pointing fingers; it's on me, too. This is a team game, we need to go out and do it as a team."

On the first half's final drive, sophomore quarterback Sean Conway was called for intentional grounding. The Monarchs were inside the Kinsley 15 and didn't score.

TMP-Marian had three 5-yard penalties on its opening series of the second half, a drive that chewed up six minutes on the clock, but stalled at the Kinsley 14 and didn't produce points.

"Offensively, I thought we did what we had planned on, grind it out," Monarch coach Gene Flax said. "But penalties just killed us. That was the thing that we thought we had worked out, that we were weren't going to have penalties, and that was a real killer."

The Monarchs, 2-7 in 2007, lost their fifth straight season opener and their fifth straight road game, a streak that dates back to 2005, against Class 2-1A Kinsley, Flax's former school. The Coyotes were led by Jeff Chambers, the former coach at Ingalls who took over the team in May.

Kinsley, 4-5 in 2007, saw an increase from 17 players last fall to 30 this year under Chambers. The Coyotes used a double tight-end look and ran the ball nearly every play, similar to the Monarchs' toss-and-trap offense.

TMP-Marian took a 7-0 lead with 5:21 left in the first quarter. After nine straight running plays, Conway, on the first varsity pass of his career, found senior end Keith Gustin for a 33-yard TD. Kinsley tied the game in the second quarter after the Coyotes recovered a Taylor fumble at the Monarch 25. Senior running back Jordan Ebert ran it in from 25 yards out on the next play.

On the next drive, TMP-Marian was called for a false start and turned the ball over on downs at the Kinsley 32.

"We stopped them and that kind of helped us a bunch," Chambers said. "That was huge for us."

On the final drive of the first half, Conway rolled out right and threw the ball out of bounds for intentional grounding inside the Kinsley red zone.

"Penalties," Taylor said. "We had more than they did. That is why we lost."

TMP-Marian lost a down and eventually ran out of time inside Kinsley's 15.

"Once you get in the red zone, you have to strap it on and you have to put that ball across the goal line," Taylor said. "I think we come out next week and I think we need to do that a little better."

The Monarchs opened up the second half with a 12-play, 56-yard drive that ground out six minutes of the clock. Taylor, who rushed for a game-high 159 yards on 30 carries after he had 363 yards all last season, carried the ball eight times on the drive.

Yet TMP-Marian was called for three false start penalties and couldn't convert a 4th-and-9 from the Kinsley 14.

"We audibled some and with the audible that changes the snap count to a set snap count and we didn't make the transition," Flax said. "I have to take the blame for that because we haven't spent enough time on that in practice. We have gone over it some, but we haven't spent a lot of time on it."

On the next possession, the Monarchs forced Kinsley to punt from its own 19-yard line. TMP-Marian junior linebacker Preston Werth (team-high 14 tackles) blocked the punt and Kinsley senior punter Dwight Wetzel picked up the bouncing ball.

In an odd play that Taylor said he had never seen before, Wetzel raced down the right sideline, picked up 16 yards and gained a first down. Taylor said the play "put a downer on everything," while Chambers called it "a turning point."

"You make a great play and the garbage man comes around and picks it up and turns it into a gold mine for himself," Flax said. "That was really a huge play."

Four plays later, Ebert (122 rushing yards) broke a 50-yard TD run, the game's longest play, and Kinsley converted the 2-point conversion.

The Monarchs recovered a fumble at the Kinsley 19 and produced a Conway 2-yard TD run that closed it to 15-13 with 7:19 left. On the 2-point conversion try, Chambers wanted one-on-one on the outside with Ebert. Chambers saw the Monarchs slide several players over to the left side to go one-on-one.

"It was huge," Chambers said. "We had to go for it."

Taylor, on what he labeled TMP-Marian's "bread and butter," took the handoff, went left, and was stopped by Ebert short of the goal line.

"I guess they read it," Taylor said. "I tried to punch it in, but I came short and I was upset at myself about that because three yards, I got to get that."

The Monarchs never saw the ball again. Kinsley milked the final 7:12 of the clock off running plays and held on for the win.

TMP-Marian has Homecoming this Friday against Ness-Dighton at Lewis Field Stadium.