Although Madison Academy has won all seven meetings in the football series with Westminster Christian, there is one near-certainty – based on past results – fans can count on Friday night. The game won’t end 3-2. Or 6-0.

Visiting Madison Academy, 9-0 and ranked second in Class 3A, averages 53.7 points a game this season. The Mustangs are No. 3 among all Alabama High School Athletic Association teams in scoring. Only once this year, in a 26-21 win over J.B. Pennington in Week 3, has Madison Academy been held to fewer than 40 points. Five times coach Bob Godsey’s squad has scored more than 50 points, with four games over 60 and one over 70.

Westminster, 8-1 and riding an eight-game winning streak, scores 50.1. The Wildcats have scored 50 points in four games and beat Central-Florence 71-54 in Week 6. Coach Louis LeBlanc’s 4A squad outscores its opponents by 19.8 points a game. WCA is fifth in total scoring.

“Honestly, we just go out there and play,” said Westminster senior running back Henry Claunch. “We never aim to get a certain score. We just go out and play and have fun with it. Scoring adds to that.”

Claunch is the team’s second-leading rusher behind All-State quarterback Brandon Musch. The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder has run for 847 yards on 130 attempts – 6.5 yards per carry. He has seven touchdowns to his credit on the ground and two more on pass receptions. Claunch has caught 21 passes for 258 yards.

“I think I’m a physical back,” he said. “I never back down from a hit and I can make a guy miss, too.”

Musch is the triggerman of LeBlanc’s offense. The senior has thrown for 1,344 yards and 22 touchdowns. He has 1,552 yards on 124 carries with 24 more TDs.

“It’s awesome playing with Brandon,” Claunch said. “It’s awesome knowing that whenever it’s a third-and-long situation, Brandon can make some magic happen. I’ve been playing with Brandon since we were 10 years old and I look forward to playing these last few weeks with him.”

Ken Cherry, Claunch’s counterpart at Madison Academy, has run for 1,650 yards and 26 touchdowns this season. He averages an incredible 17.4 yards per carry. The 6-0, 187-pound senior also has four receiving touchdowns on just 10 catches for 197 yards. He has run for at least 100 yards in every game this year.

“I would say I’m an all-around running back,” Cherry said. “I can catch. I’ve got good speed, good vision. It’s hard to bring me down. I’d just say I’m all-around.”

Madison Academy’s new analytics captured Cherry at 20.71 mph in last week’s 55-7 win at Susan Moore. It was the third-fastest run in the state of players clocked last week by Titan Sports. Cherry said his fastest 40-yard dash time was 4.54 seconds at a camp at UNA.

His personal accomplishments are not high on his list of priorities, he said. “Every game, I just take it as playing for my teammates. I don’t really look into it as me doing good, it’s ‘What can I do to help this team succeed? What’s better for the team?’

“My mom has always been the person who kept that mentality in me,” Cherry said of his motivation, Latara Taylor. “She has always said to help others and do what’s best for others. I just stay humble and let God do what’s good for me.”

Godsey praised his top runner’s efforts to improve on the football field. “He’s worked extremely hard,” the coach said, “in the weight room and on fundamental things for a long time, not just in the last year. It’s good to see him having success because he has put in the work.”

Madison Academy won the 3A, Region 7 title and will host Hokes Bluff next week. Westminster is the top seed from 4A, Region 8 with a 7-0 mark and will host Oak Grove in the opening round of the playoffs.

“This is my favorite part of the year, to be honest,” Claunch said. “I kind of like it when it’s colder. I feel like this is when our team is at our peak. It’s fun to come out and compete.

“In years past, we were always a young team. Right now, a lot of seniors are stepping up. We’ve all been playing together for years. We have great chemistry and our coaches have put in a really good system for us.”

Claunch said the Wildcats’ history against the Mustangs doesn’t play into this season’s game. “We try not to talk about it and make it seem like it’s just another game – because it is. We just want to go out and do our best and come out with a win.

“They don’t have a bad defense,” Claunch said of a Madison Academy squad that allows 8.9 points a game and has a 44.7-point scoring advantage on its opponents. “They are pretty physical, but we think they have some holes we can exploit. We are doing things different from last year because we’re a different team. We have to exploit their defense in different ways because obviously it didn’t work last year (a 49-14 loss). We have to try something new.”