By ROB TATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

CARUTHERSVILLE -- Although the regular season might be forgettable for the Malden Green Wave outgoing seniors, the district and state playoff run will be an unforgettable memory for a team that really had to pull it together late.

Thirty years from now, will they remember the sluggish start to the season? Probably. But the top moments they will recall will probably be those late-season practices that helped shape the upsets that landed them in the sectional round on a cold November Monday night in Caruthersville.

"I wish we had about five more games," Malden coach Gary Blaylock said. "If they would've played the whole year the way they played these last four to five ballgames -- they made it fun.

"They turned a crummy season into an exciting season."

The Green Wave coaches will have their hands full in the offseason as they have the daunting task of replacing the seniors that lifted them to the late run. Almost every position on both sides of the ball will be up for grabs come summer when the 2009 Green Wave start training camp.

For starters, on the offensive side Malden will lose quarterback Kaleb Loughary who took over the reins as starter midway through the 2007 season and started every game in 2008.

Loughary's favorite target, Andy Matthews, will also graduate this spring. Loughary and Matthews, who really worked diligently on their long pass plays in practice late in the season, hooked up on three touchdown passes longer than 25 yards in the last four games of the season.

Late in the season, Matthews was a hard cover for any defense 1-on-1.

"We can't go to the well all the time," Blaylock said after the loss Monday night at Caruthersville. "Andy would come back and tell us when he's got that guy (1-on-1)."

With Matthews leaving, the Green Wave are also losing their punter, kick and punt returner as well as a safety.

Blaylock will also miss running back Raphael Jones, who really turned it up a notch at the end of year.

Jones, who stands at 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds took a beating throughout the year suffering an Achilles' injury, a hurt wrist, a bum ankle in Scott City during the regional playoff and also came out Monday night for a short time with what appeared to be a rib injury.

Jones scored four touchdowns in the last five games.

Also playing their last game was fullback/tight end Ryan Cain and key cogs on the offensive line in Levin Miller and Nick Howe.

On the defensive side of the ball, Malden will be losing all four starting defensive linemen in Cain, Kwamena Bondzie, Jonny Burton and Josh Louis.

They will also lose both safeties in Matthews and Loughary. The Green Wave will return both corners in Travis Gregory and Raymond Wilson.

Rounding out the group will be the losses of special-teamers Dillion Criglar, Dee Collier, Deven McCallister and kicker Svein Hansen. McCallister also played some defensively in the secondary.

"I coached these guys in junior high," Blaylock said. "We've been with them a long time. I don't know what to say. Their some good players in there and I'm glad they got to show the people finally that they do have some skill by being able to win some ballgames."

Blaylock was glad they didn't have to hang their hats on what could of been just a one win season.

"We were 1-7 and looking at 1-9," he said. "All the sudden we get a little fire going. We finished up 4-8 which ain't a real good record. But the teams we beat at the end of the year -- that got us respect. These last four weeks has given our team the chance to walk the halls tall at school. They've gotten a little pride in themselves and they changed their whole attitude about how the game is played."

Blaylock voted against the playoff system allowing the second place team from each district a chance to play in regionals. But since the vote, he has changed his mind.

"I voted against this playoff system and now here we are getting in it because of that," Blaylock added. "But I'm here to tell you if they I had to vote again I'd vote for it because the turnaround it made on our team was just difference between night and day.

"I know it ain't a winning season but them guys deserve to have one the way they played the last month."