TJC begins its title defense Saturday. The returning sophomores are (from left) Frank Doumbe, Kyle Nicholls, Andre Grandt, Joseph Setchell, Dominic Dwyer, Robin Brown, Jack Bennett, Brenton Griffiths, Rafael Amaya Jr. and Martin Seiler.

The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Pat Hartley Field. The No. 1 Apaches play back-to-back days with a home match with Jefferson (Mo.) at 2 p.m. Sunday.

"Since 1963 … I think we counted five teams that went undefeated," TJC head coach Steve Clements said. "The odds of that are not good. The odds are not good of repeating that. This year's sophomores were part of a magical year last year.

"We're (younger) this year, which is the direction I think everybody is headed right now. We have a lot of 18-year-old guys right out of high school. There's not a lot of older guys on this roster and it's a different type team. It's been a hard-working group, a positive group and fun to coach so far."

The Apaches graduated four NJCAA All-Americans off last year's squad. They brought back five full-time starters in defender Brenton Griffiths (Jamaica), midfielder Kyle Nicholls (England), defender Joe Setchell (England), forward Dom Dwyer (England) and midfielder Jack Bennett (England).

Dwyer led the Apaches with 15 goals as a freshman, three coming at nationals where he made the all-tournament team.

"Dom's a guy who's hard to defend," Clements said. "He's got a real nose for the goal. He's got something you can't teach. Everybody's looking for that player. We're going to have to give him some help up there, but if he gets loose in the box he can score."

Sophomore Andre Grandt (Germany) takes over as the starting goalkeeper for Robert E. Lee graduate Juan Robles, a first-team All-American now at SMU. Grandt received some key game experience last year and was impressive in the 2010 scrimmages.

"Andre had a good year last year," Clements said. "He probably would have started on most teams in the country last year. We felt very comfortable with Andre last year."

Clements said the Apaches are focused on building a strong defense before anything else.

"We feel pretty good defensively," he said. "Generally we're pretty solid defensively. That's the first thing we want to do is get our defense straight. The rest of it will be a work-in-progress."

Clements said the Apaches should benefit from having a nucleus of players who saw major minutes at the national tournament.

"That's something mentally that's positive for you," he said. "Those guys have all been in the national tournament and all competed at a high level."

Sept. 4 Barton County (Kan.) 7 p.m.

Sept. 5 Jefferson (Mo.) 2 p.m.

Sept. 7 at NE Texas 3 p.m.

Sept. 14 *at Lon Morris 5 p.m.

Sept. 18 Richland 7 p.m.

Sept. 24 *San Jacinto 7 p.m.

Sept. 26 *Coastal Bend 1 p.m.

Oct. 1 Hill 7 p.m.

Oct. 5 NE Texas 7 p.m.

Oct. 7 ^vs. Western Texas 7 p.m.

Oct. 10 ^vs. Allen County (Kan.) 11 a.m.

Oct. 12 *Lon Morris 7 p.m.

Oct. 15 *at San Jacinto 7 p.m.

Oct. 16 #*vs. Coastal Bend 11 a.m.

Oct. 23 at Richland 7 p.m.

Oct. 24 UT Tyler Club 1 p.m.

-- -- --

*-conference

^-at Richland College

#-in Houston

Link to Original Article:  http://tylerpaper.com/article/20100903/SPORTS06/9030321