Alfonzo doing it all for injury-plagued Rush

Despite a rash of injuries, the Rush goes into tonight’s game at Tampa Bay with a 7-2 record and a three-game lead in the Arena Football League’s Central Division.

The Rush is outscoring its opponents by an average margin of 13.6 points, and a victory tonight would stretch its lead in the American Conference to three games.

‘‘I’m not surprised because we entered the season with a deep and very experienced roster, especially on defense with most all the guys coming back,’’ said ironman DeJuan Alfonzo, the team’s best all-around player. ‘‘So that has enabled coach [Mike Hohensee] to have capable backups to replace the starters. The backups also know our system since they were with the team last year, and they are hungry to perform after not having played much.’’

The Storm (3-5) is led by quarterback Brett Dietz, whom Rush starter Russ Michna beat out last season for the backup job behind Matt D’Orazio. Since replacing injured starter Sherdrick Bonner, Michna is 4-0 with the league’s best passer rating (128.3). He has completed 74 percent of his passes for 1,062 yards and 22 touchdowns with only three interceptions.

With D’Orazio’s new team, the league-leading Philadelphia Soul (9-1), losing its first game 67-55 to Cleveland on Friday, there are no unbeaten teams in the AFL, and the Rush is just a game and a half behind the Soul for the league’s best record.

‘‘But we’re not worried about how well other teams are doing and hoping that somebody loses and stuff like that,’’ Alfonzo said. ‘‘Sure, we want home-field advantage for our conference half of the playoffs, but we know that if we take one game at a time and keep winning, it doesn’t matter what any other team does.’’

Alfonzo — who plays linebacker, defensive back, wide receiver and fullback — is having an MVP-caliber year in his seventh AFL season because of his superb versatility.

‘‘It’s great to be quarterbacking a team with Alfonzo as a teammate because he makes his teammates better with spectacular plays,’’ Michna said. ‘‘He always finds a way to be around the ball, get the ball and make touchdowns. He’s simply fantastic.’’

The 6-foot, 205-pound Alfonzo has run for five touchdowns, caught one touchdown pass, intercepted three passes — returning two for touchdowns — returned a kickoff for a touchdown and returned three of his four fumble recoveries for touchdowns.

‘‘And if both our quarterbacks ever went down, Alfonzo would be our quarterback,’’ Hohensee said. ‘‘He’s just that talented.’’

Although he has scored most of his touchdowns as a fullback, Alfonzo says he is a decent passer.

‘‘Before my career is over, I hope to throw a touchdown pass,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve scored a touchdown doing everything else but passing. And if I got the chance, I believe I could throw a perfect, spiraling 48-yarder for a touchdown.’’