The common thought in high school football - and in the NFL and college football - is if you have two equal quarterbacks atop your depth chart, it really means you don't have a reliable one.

Some of that theory makes sense. It's good practice to have one quarterback who gets considerable playing time.

He can take the most snaps in practice, and coaches can devote undivided attention to getting him comfortable running the team.

But Athens Drive is finding success breaking away from conventional wisdom with its quarterbacks.

Coach Jeff Smouse has shown he's not afraid to let either junior Jason West or classmate Brad Bowling take meaningful snaps in a big game.

In the past, Smouse's spread offense has been engineered by dual-threat quarterbacks such as Nick DeMuro and Ross and Ben Snotherly.

This year, he uses the two juniors to accomplish the same kind of offensive production.

West is the primary passer, while Bowling is the better runner.

West has completed 143 of his 252 passes this season for 1,955 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Bowling has thrown 28 completions in 46 attempts for 281 yards and two touchdowns.

"I'm trying to get Jason two or three series to (one for) Brad," Smouse said.

"Jason's outplaying him right now in practice, but Brad's a good quarterback and we want to give him the chance to play."

Those added snaps have West with the higher rushing numbers too.

But his 131 yards aren't much more than Bowling's 73.

"We try to use (Bowling) more as a runner," Smouse said. "Jason can run, but he's not a natural runner."

Although the duo came up short in last Friday's game at Fuquay-Varina, the two have worked well for the Jaguars.

Athens is 4-4 with its four losses coming to teams that are 28-3 combined.