2-0 and happy

DADE CITY -- Ben Alford could complain if he wanted.

In the season opener, there were two sure-fire touchdown passes dropped. Last week, he had three touchdowns -- two passing and one rushing -- brought back by penalties. Even nature conspired against him as heavy rains cut short the Pirates' win over Mitchell midway through the third quarter.

But Alford isn't talking about the five touchdowns he could have gotten this season, in part because he's enjoying the five touchdown passes he has thrown in Pasco's 2-0 start.

"I'm happy with what I've got, and that's my team winning," said Alford, who has 244 yards and needs one touchdown pass to match last season's total. "That's all that matters. I'm not in this for the stats. I could throw for 50 yards and if we're winning, I'm happy with that."

Coach Ricky Thomas has heaped praise on his third-year starter, crediting his maturity as a guiding force behind this season's promising start.

"I can't say enough good things about Ben," Thomas said. "He's the complete warrior. He takes this team on his shoulders and just gets after it. You're always in it when you've got players like that."

Thomas also believes Alford has a stronger supporting cast, giving him more ways to showcase his abilities than in his first two seasons. Alford's five touchdown passes have gone to five teammates, and players such as Marcus Allen, Devon Hicks and Johnny Peyton give the Pirates more versatility to score big plays from the backfield or as receivers downfield.

Alford, too, has improved with time. He worked on his speed this summer, running enough sprints to lower his 40-yard time from 4.8 seconds to 4.5. He remembers a promising 3-0 start last season and watching the season crumble due to injuries and suspensions.

"All we have to do is stay healthy," said Alford, who has received letters from colleges but isn't being actively recruited yet. "Our core group has been together three years, and that's brought us together more than anything else. There's a lot of team unity here. I help them out and they help me out."

Experience has made Alford more comfortable in nearly any situation.

His first touchdown last week came on a 29-yard field-goal attempt. Alford, as holder, played Lucy Van Pelt to kicker Amanda Newsome's Charlie Brown, pulling the ball up as she approached and scrambling to his left. He found senior Kirk Moats open for a 12-yard touchdown.

That isn't the end of his magic. On three two-point conversion attempts, he threw for one and ran it in for another.

"He turns plays when they're not there, gets something out of nothing sometimes," said Moats, Alford's cousin, a longtime teammate. "He takes control more. He's stepped up a lot from sophomore year to now. He always had it, he just didn't know it."

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