It's all about playing well at the right time.

Central York and Dallastown sport identical 5-1 records after six games, but it's the Panthers that have the best shot at the Division I title after taking down the Wildcats on the road Friday night.

Kennard-Dale has lost just as many games as it has won this season, but a recent surge has put them atop the Division II standings with West York with a 2-0 mark against divisional opponents.

Phillies starting pitcher Brett Myers had walked in a run in the first (typically his worst inning) and Milwaukee still had the bases loaded with one out.

This was a disaster waiting to happen. Plus, the Brewers had ace hurler C.C. Sabathia on the mound, so any deficit was scary.

One pitch changed the momentum when Brewer Corey Hart bounced the ball back to Myers, who started a 1-2-3 double play.

Was something special was about to happen? It would have been hard to say, considering the Phils had to come back against the 6-foot-8 monster Sabathia, who had been virtually un-hittable since joining Milwaukee.

Yet, comeback they did thanks to a second inning that could well go down in Philadelphia sports' lore, keyed by a Myers' at bat of all things.

The former Bobcat was honored as the North East Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Student-Athlete of the Week for her offensive performance for the Nittany Lions.

Stine, shown below in her 2005 YAIAA all-star photo, had three goals on 13 shots during the week, thanks to a hat trick during a 4-0 win over Gallaudet.

It's October. Time to get serious.

Most of the most intriguing games of the season come in the second half of the year when it feels like football season. The leaves haven't really started to change yet, but there is a chill in the air and I imagine there will be plenty of blankets in the stands Friday night.

Enjoy a few quick takes on this week's games below. Let your voice be heard in the comments section.

Best chance to salvage a season: Dover. The Eagles have lost all five of their games so far, but may be the only winless Class AAA team in the area -- maybe even the state -- that can still say it has a legitimate shot at the playoffs. Well, maybe legitimate is a stretch, but it's definitely possible. Because four of Dover's next five games are against Class AAAA opponents, the Eagles can rack up enough bonus points with victories to potentially sneak into the 16-team district tournament field with a 5-5 record.

Newest longest scoreless streak: York County Tech. Northeastern went 13 quarters without a point, but ended up registering a respectable 14 in a loss to York Suburban last week. After last week's shutout loss to Bermudian, the Spartans haven't scored in three and a half games (14 quarters). Tech also extended its losing streak to 14 games, dating back to last season. It doesn't get any easier this week: the Spartans host undefeated Delone Catholic.

Thanks to Chase Utley's two-run double in the third inning and the brilliant pitching of Cole Hamels, the Phillies garnered their first playoff win since 1993.

Hamels allowed only two hits and struck out nine through eight innings before giving way to Lidge.

The Susquehannock football team has lost four of its five games to start the season, including only its second Division II defeat in the last 26 games, falling 42-14 at home to Littlestown on Friday.

So what's the deal with this year's Susquehannock team? They are perilously close to failing to finish the regular season above .500 since coach Tom Waranavage arrived in Glen Rock in 2004.

I asked Waranavage a few minutes after Friday's loss and he had a theory:

"We have not not played hard," Waranavge said. "We have played hard, but we haven't played smart. I think we have guys getting frustrated because not everybody on the field is toeing the line and doing the job that needs to be done. And it's a team game. And if you're not doing your job on the field, you can't hide -- somebody's going to find you.

"That's what's frustrating. It's not that we don't play hard. We give good effort. We just don't play very smart.. We're just not a naturally football-intelligent football team right now. We're just not a smart football team. I guess some of that is we need to have kids play more, but some of it is, I don't know, I think you're born with a little bit of football IQ.

Philadelphia went down in order in its half of the inning.

Carols Ruiz singled to start the third and pitcher Cole Hamels laid down a sacrifice bunt and was safe on a fielding error by Brewers second baseman Ricky Weeks.

Two outs later, Utley doubled to center, scoring both Ruiz and Hamels.

Three straight walks plated Utley with the third run.

Hamels has allowed just one hit through five innings. loaded the basesC.Ruiz scored,

Ryan Howard is up first, and he takes three balls from Gallardo before a strike cross the plate. There's another one, and Howard takes a free pass to first.

That was before Pat Burrell ground into a double play.

Two outs. Shane Victorino up.

Gallardo walks him. Feliz up at bat. He grounds into a fielder's choice to shortstop.

The Associated Press reported that Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell was in the lineup Wednesday for Game 1 of the division series a day after he left a workout because of discomfort in his lower back.

Burrell looked fine taking swings during batting practice and was batting fifth for the Phillies in the best-of-five division series against Milwaukee. The left fielder hit .250 with 33 home runs and 86 RBIs.

Check back for periodic game updates.

"I don't know what he was doing, but he got me to fire him."
-- Al Davis

I think that just might be my favorite quote of this whole messy breakup between Raiders owner Al Davis and former coach Lane Kiffin. And the fact that Davis told him over the phone. No face-to-face for this fearless leader of Raider Nation. No sir. But I guess the phone is better than a fax or text, right?

Here's the other great lines:

Kiffin (the first thing he said after he was fired): "Do I get paid?"
Davis: "No."

Classic. I have to agree with Mr. Davis. Contract not withstanding, Kiffin's Raiders went 1-3 and dropped fourth-quarter leads to San Diego and Buffalo. No pay for you!