Five things I learned from Friday night's games

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER Spent the night in Whitehall, watching the Zephyrs' 32-7 win over Central Catholic. Some things that were learned there, and elsewhere: 1. Nick Shafnisky is the real deal. I continue to be really impresed with the Whitehall senior quarterback ... his toughness, his running ability and his ability to throw the ball, both long and with touch. I realize that Central may not be one of the elite defenses in the league, but Shafnisky had a terrific game. I think he's going to get a chance to play at Lehigh, and perhaps sooner than you think. 2. Colin McDermott needs help. Third time I've seen Central this season and the third time he's had a quality effort in a losing cause. In each of the three games I've seen, the Vikings have had some success moving the ball, but they have to work hard to sustain drives and overcome their own penalties. It's completely different from the last couple of years when most Vikings scoring drives took three plays or less and took six seconds, not six minutes like Central's one scoring drive tonight. 3. Looks like Stroudsburg and Pleasant Valley are the Mountain Valley's best. After posting big wins over rivals on Friday night, they are clearly the best teams in the Mountain Valley Conference and will probably represent the league in the subregional playoffs. They meet in Week 10 and I don't see either losing before then. The Mounties have one loss, PV two, so the Bears are more on the bubble than the Mounties. However, both should accumulate points to get two of the eight spots in the subregional. East Stroudsburg Nouth and East Stroudsburg South also have a shot. But they meet in Week 10 and both will likely lose another game before then. 4. Unpredictable Emmaus did it again. No one in the area may be more difficult to figure out than the Green Hornets, and just when you thought they were capable of making a run at a subregional playoff spot, they stub their toes against a winless Liberty team that some said had given up on the season. This one probably knocked Emmaus into the Eastern Conference playoff bracket again, which is somewhat disappointing for a team that began 3-0 and played Easton so tough two weeks ago. 5. Lots of interest, at least in the Whitehall press box, about the baseball playoffs. There were lots of scoring updates on the Yankees game and the early part of the Nats-Cardinals game. As usual, the Yankees were polarizing with some people very excited about their win over the Orioles and some ticked off about it. I sensed some Phillies fans coming over and rooting for the Cardinals tonight. I am not sure why, maybe it's that couldn't stand seeing Jayson Werth keep going deeper into the postseason. As for the Cardinals, I will just say they are a much better team than I am a fan. I gave up on them several times tonight, and simply couldn't believe that they came back from 6-0 and 7-5 with two outs in the ninth inning. What they have done in the postseason the past two years has been historic, especially since this is not a franchise that features a lot of superstars. The Cardinals do all right, but this is not a team with the Yankees or Philles payroll. Speaking of superstars, I think a lot of Cardinals fans are hoping Albert Pujols has a nice seat in his living room to watch his former team compete in the NLCS while his team has now been done playing for a couple of weeks. The fact that he's gone, along with Tony La Russa, Lance Berkman and some other key members of last year's team, makes the 2012 Cardinals an even more compelling story.