[Superman20]

I am just responding to the Paintsville posters who claim repeatedly that Paintsville's past success had nothing to do with out of district players. It did.

Do I blame their parents or the players for not playing for Johnson Central? Not one bit. In fact, I believe that parents should be able to enroll their kids in the school of their choice regardless of where they choose to live and regardless of whether they change their residence.

But all of us who are familiar with Johnson Central and Paintsville know that there have been kids playing across district lines throughout the history of the schools. Sometimes out of district players helped Paintsville more and sometimes JC was the benefiiciary. Right now, most county kids - particularly the ones best suited for football - are staying home and playing for Johnson Central. Even if that was not the case, JC has a large enough enrollment to absorb the loss of a few good players better than a Class A school like Paintsville can.

If Matney had taken the position at JC three years earlier, as he almost did, the Apple Bowl would have ended sooner. I for one wish that he had done so. Central's players deserved a better high school football experience than what they got under Bill Musick's first two successors.

The talent level wasn't really as good as what central has had the past 5 to 6 years for Humphery or Ross. So, Im not sure if i agree the apple bowl would have been stopped ahead of when it was. That has to be taken into consideration as well. Paintsville in the past has always been blessed with talent, not just because of county kids. That team that won the region for paintsville back with Ryan Jarrell, the Harmon Boys, and Dustin Hall was loaded with talent from kids that were raised in town. I dont care who coached JC that year, they wouldn't have beat that team. I can't remember the season, but I remember they were exciting to watch. Harmon's arm, his brother running the ball, and the smash mouth d they played was fun to watch. After thinking about that season, it makes me miss burrhead's coaching even more lol Oh well, the past is the past and I can say that JC's administration has done a great job in all aspects of their school system. They hired a great coach, and he's made them a top program in eastern ky. PHS went backwards and hired for political reasons and have about ruined their football program by hiring a coach with very, very little coaching experience (an assistant for one season). Anyways, I agree with part of your post Hoot..have a good apple day.