By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

Last year, the Thomas More Prep-Marian football team beat Russell in the last game of the season.

Monarch coach Gene Flax hopes to end 2009 on a positive note and get a kick-start for 2010 in Thursday's night season finale at Russell. Kickoff for the Class 3A, District 14 matchup is 7 p.m. Phillipsburg (5-3 overall, 2-0 district) is at Beloit (6-2, 2-0) in the district title game.

"It definitely has merit; definitely not over-rated," Flax said of going out with a win. "You see, year in and year out, teams get these wins," and get a boost for next year.

That didn't happen for the Monarchs this year, after the first week. After beating Kinsley in the season opener, TMP-Marian (1-7, 0-2) has lost seven straight going into Thursday's game.

"It's frustrating," Flax said. "We haven't accomplished what we set out to accomplish.

"By the same token, they keep on fighting," Flax added.

"TMP, you can't look at their record," Russell coach David King said. "They're a lot better than their record shows."

The Monarchs have been giving up big plays this season, and Russell (3-5 0-2) averages 29 points per game. Junior halfback Ryan Zachman leads the Broncos with 580 yards rushing, with seven TDs, and senior fullback Brady Stoppel has 507 yards and 10 touchdowns.

"They score some points, they really do," Flax said. "They've got some athletes, my gosh. They can score in a hurry. If you don't cover your assignment, they could go to the house on you."

The Broncos also are dangerous on special teams.

In a 62-34 loss to Beloit, Zachman returned a kickoff for a TD, one of five kick returns for scores he has had this season; he averages 49 yards a kickoff return.

The Monarchs got a kickoff return for a touchdown on the last play of last week's 64-20 loss to Beloit. Senior linebacker and offensive lineman Preston Werth returned a kick 71 yards for a TD. Werth played despite a shoulder injury.

"He didn't want to come out," Flax said. "He didn't want to use it as a crutch."

Flax hopes to get the Monarch offense healthy by using senior fullback Andrew Allen often against a Russell defense that surrenders 31 points per game. Allen has had a pair of 100-yard games this season.

"We're going in with the mindset we're going to run the ball against them," Flax said.

King, a former player at Smith Center, uses the Redmen's wishbone attack.

"They run the belly series, same thing Smith Center runs," Flax said.

"At times, they run it very well. They do such a good job faking the ball. No doubt, they run it between the tackles."

While TMP-Marian has thrown the ball more this season than a Flax team normally does, Russell prefers to grind it out on the ground.

"Even when I would think about throwing, they don't throw it," Flax said.

"We try to run the same system," as Smith Center said King, whose Broncos ran 58 running plays and passed four times in last week's 41-6 loss to Phillipsburg. "The system focuses on execution and doing things right."

Flax said his players have been coming to practice, working hard, and putting in the time in the weight room, too. All in an effort to get bigger and stronger.

"Some day, it's going to pay off," Flax said.