Westminster Christian made history with its 48-27 rout of Brooks on the road Friday night, reaching the Alabama High School Athletic Association football playoff semifinals for the first time. The 11-2 Wildcats once again relied on record-breaking quarterback Brandon Musch on the way to the Class 4A quarterfinals win.

The senior accounted for 329 total yards and ran for six touchdowns for Westminster. Musch ran 25 times for 261 yards and completed 10-of-12 passes for 68 yards. For his career, Musch has rolled up 13,970 total yards with 193 touchdowns, second all-time in the AHSAA behind Piedmont’s Jack Hayes, who had 15,104 yards with 223 TDs.

Henry Clauch ran for 155 yards with a TD and caught 4 passes for 35 yards in the win.

The Westminster defense came up big with a pair of second-half turnovers as Zeke Carwile intercepted a pass and Isaiah Shingleton recovered a fumble late to stymie any hopes of a Brooks rally.

The Wildcats broke on top with an 80-yard drive on their first possession. Musch scored on an 18-yard run on the sixth play of the march. Brooks tied the game on a 1-yard run by Omoro Joyner, but Musch ran for a 10-yard score and Claunch had a 1-yard TD to put the visitors up 21-7.

Joyner capped a 62-yard, 10-play drive with a 6-yard score with 4:06 left in the first half. The Wildcats responded with a 10-yard possession capped by Musch’s 10-yard TD with 16 seconds remaining.

Brooks (8-5) closed the gap to 28-21 with 2:20 left in the third quarter after stopping the visitors’ first two drives of the second half with a 9-yard touchdown by quarterback Garrett Burrough.

Westminster increased its lead with Musch’s 1-yard TD with 10:44 left in the game before Noah Gregg scored with 7:39 left to make it 35-27, Wildcats.

Musch ended any hopes of a Brooks comeback with TD runs of 54 and 56 yards.

Star of the game: Musch for his 329 total yards and six touchdowns. Musch has now rushed for 2,218 yards, passed for 1,692 for 3,940 total yards and 62 touchdowns.

Play of the game: Westminster led 41-27 with 4:22 left in the game and Brooks had driven the ball to the Wildcat 35-yard-line, looking to cut the margin to a one-score game late, but failed to convert a fourth-and-1 to give the ball back to Westminster to close out the game.

Stat sheet: Westminster: The Wildcats rolled up 483 total yards. TJ Carter caught three passes for 13 yards. Brooks: The Lions amassed 402 total yards. Joyner gained 107 yards on 20 carries and scored twice. Gregg gained 54 on 7 carries and a touchdown and caught 8 passes for 97 yards. Burrough gained 122 yards on 21 carries and one TD and was 9-for-14 for 119 yards through the air.

By the numbers: 1 – Westminster only punted the ball once. 4 – Last week, Brooks scored on all nine of its offensive possessions against Priceville, but on Friday the Westminster defense held the Lions to four scores on 10 possessions. 62 – Musch is now tied for third in total touchdowns for a season with Jartavious Whitlow of LaFayette in 2016 and Tyrell Pigrome of Clay-Chalkville in 2015. Brayden Kyle of Decatur Heritage has the record with 68 in 2021 and Chris Nickson of Pike County is second with 67 in 2003.

They said it: “It feels great to come out here and win a Round 3 playoff game like that. Not many teams get to say that and to make Westminster history with the first time in the final four. Now we just got to go out Monday and have the best practice of our lives and get ready for next Friday.” – Claunch

“For the first time in school history, we are going to the semifinals and I’m just so proud of our guys. We showed so much toughness facing some adversity in the second half not scoring on our first two drives, but we just continue to handle adversity and all the challenges in such a great way. You can just tell that this team loves each other and I love, love this team and I’m just so excited for next week.” – Musch

Coachspeak: “It’s special when you can do something that has never been done at your school . To do it with a group of guys that were 4-6 as freshman and stayed together through thick-and-thin, playing for each other and then go and do something like this is just so amazing against a heck of a team like Brooks. It’s just so amazing to see these guys and what they are doing. I’m just proud to be a part of it.” – Westminster head coach Louis LeBlanc

What’s next: Westminster will host Cherokee County (12-1) next Friday in the North Class 4A semifinals at Earl van Dyke Stadium. Fourth-ranked Cherokee County handed No. 5 West Morgan its first loss of the season 28-27 in the other North quarterfinal.