2000 Apple Bowl: Paintsville at Johnson Central

October 5, 2000 (PAINTSVILLE, Ky.) -- Do you like apples? The city of Paintsville is the place to be every October and in 2000 Paintsville and Johnson Central had a dandy. On this night, Central stayed perfect with a 32-22 win over their arch-rival. Johnson Central grabbed what looked a commanding 20-0 late in the first half the early lead with the power running game of Scott Salyer and Marc Shepherd. However, the Golden Eagles may have taken their foot off the gas a little too soon because Paintsville went on a wild offensive flurry. With less than 4:52 left in the second quarter, Tigers' all-purpose star Brad Turner fumbled at the Central goal line and the turnover looked to kill all the momentum. But in a stunning twist, Paintsville gets the ball after forcing Central to punt and then Turner cashes in with :33 to go. The Chas Harmon to Turner 2-point conversion makes it 20-8. Halftime, right? Wrong! Paintsville with the onside kick and recovers! With only :01 to play, Harmon connected with Turner in the back of the endzone and again the combo combined for the 2-point try. In the blink of an eye, Paintsville cut the lead to 20-16. The start of the third quarter would see the Tigers take the lead. Turner scored his third TD in 3:48 of game time and Paintsville had a 22-20 advantage. One ensuing kickoff, Marc Shepherd electrified the shell-shocked crowd with some lightning of his own. A kickoff return for TD in the area of 95 yards. Johnson Central QB Casey Music would tack on a final score later in the 4th quarter. The 26th Apple Bowl was something special.