FUQUAY-VARINA - Defensive-minded to his core, Fuquay soccer coach James Mountford has been excitedly talking about offense this fall. His Bengals team features the leading returning scorers in the Tri-Nine Conference in senior midfielder and UNC-Wilmington recruit David Sizemore and junior forward Andrew Sotak.

But it's the early season play of two offensive-minded defenders that has Mountford particularly animated.

"Our defenders will be anchored by Cole Schwietering and Jonathan Furr," Mountford said. "Both of these guys are solid defenders. They are also very versatile in that they have the skills to go forward and put pressure on opposing defenses."

Schwietering and Furr will be serving diagonal balls from the back to Sotak, Davis Meyer and David Lane up top. Mountford said he plans to rotate the three forwards to keep them all fresh and keep opponents worn out.

"I feel like with this year's team, we're more balanced than in years past," Mountford said. "I don't really see a weak spot. We've got a strong back four. Our midfield is very talented and our forwards can all put it in the back of the net."

After three consecutive shutouts against non-conference opponents to open the season, Furr knows the competition is about to get a lot better as Tri-Nine play kicks off.

"We have to make sure as we go further into the conference that we stay strong in the defensive line and make sure that there's no gaps," Furr explained.

"When we're going forward, we have to make sure that we always finish our chances. Whenever we have the chance to put the game away, we just have to do it."

The Bengals believe they are going to be right there in the mix for the conference crown - which has seen three different teams win it in the previous three seasons - after taking third place in the conference last year. And for now, others believe it too.

Fuquay is the top-ranked team in the Tri-Nine after its 3-0 start, ranked No. 8 in the state by eurosportsscoreboard.com .

Green Hope, last year's 4-A state runner-up, is 11th after a 2-2 start.

Athens Drive (3-0-1) and Panther Creek (3-1) are also receiving votes.

Apex (2-1) entered the year ranked 14th in the state.

"The guys are excited. They know what they can do," Mountford said. "The best we've finished is third place, two of the last five years. Our goal is to win the conference. We feel like we're contenders."

Conference play started Monday.