Halladay was clearly ahead of his time with
his offensive schemes, which featured dual
threat quarterback Steve Christopher along
with a number of speedy wide receivers such
as Orlando Waters, Billy Smith, Dominique
Calloway and Tracy Pilot.
Pilot, who would go onto play on JSU’s 1992
National Championship team, said Halladay’s
ideas on offense were totally new to the team,
but it was easy to see the offensive potential
when the Bulldogs put up 131 points in their
first four games in 1989 against Wellborn,
Oxford, Emma Sansom and CarverMontgomery. “After those first four games
our confidence really began to build. We just
bought into what coach was trying to do and
it was easy to believe in the offense because it
was working so well,” Pilot said.
Former Hoover coach Rush Propst, who led
the Bucs to multiple state championships
using a similar wide open offense, was the
head coach at Ashville High School in 1989,
and as Propst puts it, was “just starting to
throw the ball around a good bit” at about
the same time Halladay came on the scene at
Anniston. Halladay and Propst are widely considered as
two of the first coaches to utilize this type of offense on
the high school level. “I have tremendous respect for him
with this type of offense. What Halladay did at Anniston
was cutting edge stuff and it did have an influence on me
and my offensive philosophy. “
The Anniston Bulldogs
take the field at Legion
Field for the 6A State
Championship Game vs
Murphy.
If Halladay was ahead of his time, the same could be said
for his quarterback Steve Christopher. Christopher was
a true dual threat quarterback who was just as dangerous
with his legs as he was with his arm. And Christopher
was also one of the strongest players on the team. “There
is no doubt that quarterback play was the difference
EVERYONE
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2016 Pigskin Roundup the Magazine | 25