Westminster Christian put on an offensive clinic beating Madison County 70-42 on Thursday night.

The Wildcats clinched a playoff spot in 4A, Region 8 with the win coupled with New Hope’s loss to St. John Paul II.

Brandon Musch had another superstar performance, scoring nine total touchdowns (five passing and four rushing) and finishing with 572 yards.

Special teams was huge for Westminster also as Mark Royar was 10-of-10 on extra points and recovered 2 of his own onside kicks. Owen Lockette was also outstanding, catching 15 passes and scoring four touchdowns.

Madison County (2-6, 2-3) scored first, taking the ball 57 yards in 14 plays capped off by Mason Meadows 21-yard pass to Branden Reed to take a 7-0 lead. From there it was all Wildcats led by three touchdown passes from Musch to Owen Lockette and a 10-yard touchdown run by Henry Claunch that gave Westminster a 28-14 lead at the half.

In the second half both teams put up big numbers, but Westminster (5-2, 4-1) had just a little bit more outscoring Madison County 42-28.

Musch threw touchdown passes to Lockette (66 yards) and Kyle Everleth (20 yards) and also scored on runs of 37, 8 ‚5 and 2. Madison County could have quit, but kept fighting to stay in the game getting three touchdowns Joshua Clark and one from Deaireton King.

Star of the Game: Musch for his 406 yards passing and five touchdowns and 166 yards rushing and four more touchdowns.

Play of the Game: Madison County had Westminster backed up to its 11-yard line with 11:23 left in the game, having just cut the lead to 42-28. But Musch hit Royar on a short pass the senior was able to turn into a 52-yard gain. Two plays later, Musch raced 37 yards for another touchdown to push the Wildcat lead to 49-28.

Stat sheet: Westminster – 631 total yards. Musch was 33-of-53 for 406, 5 TD’s. Lockette caught 15 for 193 and four TD’s, Royar caught 7 for 132, Everleth caught four for 50 yards and a touchdown. Henry Claunch gained 59 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown.

Madison County — 469 total yards. Meadows was 11-of-18 for 296 and three touchdowns. Clark caught four for 122 and two touchdowns. Xzavion Tinker caught 2 for 97 yards and a touchdown.

By the Numbers: 1,100 – Both teams combined for an amazing 1,100 yards. 117 – Musch’s nine touchdown game is his second this year, having scored nine in a 70-69 loss to Central Florence. He now has 117 touchdowns in his career and 9,087 total yards.

They Said it: “I just want to give all the glory to God because without him this win and none of this would be even possible. We made a few mistakes in the first half with some penalties and dropped balls, but you know football is all about fixing your mistakes, and that is what we did in the second half.” — Musch

“It just feels so great to have the coaches put me in the right place and the offensive line blocking so well and to have probably the best quarterback in the state to put me in position to succeed.” — Lockette

“Special teams continues to be an edge for us. I’m so thankful for this win, but we know we have a lot of things to work on and it’s nice to be able to work on them after a win so I’m excited to see us get back after it next week.” — Louis LeBlanc, Westminster head coach.

What’s Next? Westminster will travel to Priceville and Madison County will host North Jackson.