[Hoot Gibson]

Give the young Tigers two years and they will be where they need to be. Patience and good coaching will get this team back where there accustomed to being. JCHS does not have near the talent that Paintsville has in Middle school and that is probably why they decided not to play them in finals of Conference Championship. A much better football program is coming to Paintsville, however I do think they need to hire at least one more football guy to go with coach Runyon and Chirico.

I thought JC skipped the conference championship for a crack at a state championship. I seriously doubt that Paintsville has more talent at the middle school level than Johnson County. If you think that simply hiring Bill Mike Runyon is going to make Paintsville competitive with Johnson Central again, then you should review the score of the only game that BMR coached against Jim Matney and you should also realize that most of Johnson Central's points were scored in the first half of that game.

Under Coach Runyon, Paintsville's football team will rapidly improve but there will be no resumption of the Apple Bowl as long as Johnson Central is well coached. Beginning with Bill Musick and continuing with Jim Matney, Johnson Central thoroughly dominated the Tigers in the Apple Bowl. Neither team would benefit from resuming the series.

The enrollment disadvantage that Paintsville faces is too big for any coach to overcome unless the Johnson County school board decides to begin playing musical chairs with the head football coach position again - and I just don't see that happening.