COVINGTON -- If career backup Ryan Kessinger hadn't kept taking those heavy hits, he might have thought he was still dreaming.

"That first touchdown, I about lost my breath," he said. "My heart was pumping through my shoulder pads. I just had to take it in."

In his first start for Alleghany, the junior quarterback completed 15 of 19 passes for 171 yards, leading the Mountaineers to a dominating 27-7 victory over visiting Cave Spring.

Following those lofty throws to his receivers -- watching slender senior Brandon Ross pull in a pass, turn and start shucking tacklers and slither down the sidelines, or towering Steven Wilkes snag Kessinger's first career touchdown and rumble into the end zone with it -- that could take a little quarterback's breath away.

Pounding out 35 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries could beat the breath out of anybody.

"Every time he gets hit, I'm like, 'You all right?' " Wilkes said. "He said 'Yeah.' At least he's not crying every down."

There wasn't any crying for the 16-year-old son of a former all-state quarterback Alex Kessinger from nearby Covington.

The smallest kid on the Mountaineers' roster was playing in a dream under the hazy hot lights of his home field.

"I just do what my dad tells me," he said. "Stay low, and stay quick, try not to let them get a big shot on me."

In his only previous live snap at quarterback, last season against Rockbridge County, Kessinger learned the hard way to avoid the big hit, taken a memorable blow from now-graduated all-district middle linebacker Patrick Bannon.

"He knocked both my straps loose, just about killed me," Kessinger said. "He knocked me silly, I was like, 'Well, I gotta get back up.' "

After a late summer baseball tournament delayed the little lefty's return to practice, Kessinger had to get back up the Mountaineers' lineup. Even though Alleghany coach Jack Baker didn't decide on his starter until Thursday, senior receiver Brandon Ross had a feeling the 5-9, 130-pound junior would get the nod.

"I could just see it there up on the field, on the practice field," Ross said. "He was putting it in our hands, hitting it right there in the face mask. It was perfect."

The Mountaineers couldn't have envisioned a much more perfect beginning. A previously porous defense put together what Baker called the best effort in his tenure.

And backing up Kessinger on offense, first time starter Cory Pullin ran for 175 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.

"I was just so pumped, I couldn't feel anything," Pullin said.

In a thick humidity outside the Alleghany locker room, Baker watched his new starters celebrate the start of a new season. "Yeah," he said, looking around for Kessinger, "He's a spunky kid. He's an athlete. I've never seen him back down from anything, but he's a skinny little thing for sure.

"Maybe he'll grow this week."

Cave Spring 0 0 7 0--7

Alleghany 7 7 0 13--27

AHS -- Wilkes 9 pass from Kessinger (Agner kick)

AHS -- Kessinger 2 run (Agner kick)

CS -- Caveness 17 run (Dyer kick)

AHS -- Kessinger 1 run (kick failed)

AHS -- Pullin 62 run (Agner kick)

CS AL

First downs 8 4

Yards rushing 210 42

Passes C-A-I 15-19-0 6-13-2

Yards passing 171 69

Penalties-yards 6-55 4-23

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1

Punts-average 4-29 4-32

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- Cave Spring, Caveness 4-27, Dyer 7-24, Keeling 3-2, Dodson 1-0, Downing 4-minus-11; Alleghany, Pullin 17-175, Kessinger 18-35.

PASSING -- Cave Spring, Downing 6-13-2 69; Alleghany, Kessinger 15-19-0 171.

RECEIVING -- Cave Spring, Nash 2-25, Stovall 2-22, Dyer 1-15, Caveness 1-5; Alleghany, Jordan 4-90, Ross 3-32, Lilly 3-26, Wilkes 3-20, Keene 1-9, Pullin 1-3.