A year ago, Cole Cattelan took the majority of the snaps at quarterback for Billings Central, helping the Rams to their second consecutive appearance in the State A championship game.

But a loss to Miles City that day - in which the team became single-faceted - prompted Central to make some significant changes on offense in 2009.

Cattelan, now a senior, estimates he led about 80 percent of the plays last season.

This year, the story has been different.

Sharing the quarterback duties with junior Cole Moller, Cattelan and the No. 1-ranked Rams have opened up their offense and become far more dynamic with the football.

He may not be the full-time man under center anymore, but Cattelan would never go back.

"It wasn't too tough to accept," Cattelan said. "Getting more guys on the field that can make plays helps our team win."

The decision to rotate quarterbacks was made to allow Cattelan to play receiver and get Moller on the field as a passing threat.

It has helped mix Cattelan in with offensive weapons like Max Tolstedt, Kevin O'Brien and Ryan Toner.

The more athletes on the field, goes the thinking, the better.

Central coach Jim Stanton never set out to reinvent the wheel, but he did want to bring a little more balance to the Rams' offense.

The plan to implement Moller into the quarterback role matriculated in the second half of the Rams' title-game loss.

But it's truly come to fruition as this season has progressed.

Entering Saturday's regular season finale against Sidney, Central's passing game has accounted for 970 yards and 14 touchdowns. Moller has completed 60 percent of his passes and has thrown for 741 yards and 10 scores.

Cattelan, meanwhile, has accounted for 621 all-purpose yards and 12 touchdowns in his dual role.

"I know there are teams not only in our league but throughout the state that would probably take either one of them," Stanton said of his QBs. "We feel like we have two all-conference kids here."

O'Brien, Central's elusive wingback, said the changes have done nothing but help the team succeed.

"It's been pretty noticeable through some of these games," said O'Brien, who has 562 yards rushing, 254 yards receiving and eight TDs. "Last year in the state championship that was a big problem for us. We were almost one-dimensional with Lexie (graduated fullback Aleksei Grosulak) and people keyed on that. That was it.

"But this year, even if we get into those close games like we did against Frenchtown and Laurel, that'll be a big asset to our team - having that option to throw the ball."

Central beat Frenchtown 16-12 on Sept. 19, then topped Laurel 15-6 two weeks later as part of the Rams' run of three consecutive 1-versus-2 contests.

The passing game played a role in each, especially against Laurel, as Moller and Cattelan connected for the go-ahead score, a 13-yard touchdown pass with 9:59 remaining in the game.

Cattelan led the Rams down the field on that drive, but he teamed with Moller to cap it when Cattelan, playing receiver, instinctively changed his route at the line of scrimmage, cutting inside on a post pattern.

Without communication, Moller saw his buddy pop open and he got Cattelan the football.

Good quarterbacks think alike.

"The play was originally supposed to go to (O'Brien) on a little flat, out run. But the outside linebacker jumped it right away," Moller recalled. "Cole was supposed to go to the outside, but right away he came open.

"I saw him and it just worked. I wasn't planning to throw to him at all. We both saw the opening and we went for it."

The Rams will be going for more in the coming weeks, namely a second state championship in the last three seasons.

After rolling to the 2007 title, the Rams were unable to repeat a year ago. The team earned a bye for the first-round of the playoffs next week but will begin its quest with a second-round game Nov. 7 at Daylis Stadium.

"We need to keep progressing," Cattelan said. "Last week (against Glendive) we had a couple mental errors. This week we're working on fundamentals to keep getting better.

"Through the bye week we're going to have to keep working harder and prepare as well as we can."

With this new offensive approach, Central looks primed to take on all comers.