With the opening week of high school football in the rearview mirror, the fall sports season is in full swing.

The West Hall volleyball team has wasted no time in racking up early victories, and will take a 9-0 record into the first Area 8-AAA matches of the season Tuesday at Johnson High.

A huge test will be against Oconee County. The Warriors are already 2-0 in the area and 6-2 overall and looking to defend their 2010 area championship.

The Lady Spartans will play another postseason contender in the next game against hosts Johnson, a team which they already defeated twice in a non-region match last week.
Fellow 8-AAA contender North Hall, which finished second in 8-AAA last season, will also open region play Tuesday at Walnut Grove with a match against the hosts and Monroe Area.

SOFTBALL ENTERS REGION PLAY: Dawson County travels to East Hall Tuesday for a Region 8-AA North matchup against a surprising Lady Vikings team.

Last year the East Hall softball team did not win a game all season; this year they are 5-3-1 overall and 1-0 in the region after a 5-3, eight-inning win over 2010 second-place team Fannin County.

Dawson County, which finished third in the region last year, will be another tough test. The Lady Tigers are 7-1 and 1-0 in the region.

Defending subregion champs Union County (8-1, 1-0) also play a region game Tuesday against Rabun County after notching their first subregion win over Banks County in a 10-1 final.

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: There are two Hall County teams which have yet to open the 2011 football season.

North Hall had a bye week last Friday and thus will start their campaign to get back to the postseason this Friday at 1-0 Jefferson.

And fellow Region 8-AAA North team Chestatee will open Friday at 0-1 West Hall.

ATLANTA BRAVES: The Braves will have some extra rest going in to the start of their series with the Washington Nationals (62-68, 4th in NL East) Tuesday.

Due to the approach of Hurricane Irene, Atlanta's Saturday and Sunday games against the Mets were postponed and will be played as a doubleheader Sept. 8th at Citi Field.

That means that the Braves (79-54, 2nd in NL East) will have had a highly unusual three days off when they return to the diamond Tuesday at Turner Field for a 7:10 start.

ATLANTA FALCONS: The Falcons have just one more preseason game. Atlanta will host Baltimore at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Georgia Dome for the fourth and final preseason game. The regular season for the Falcons gets underway at 1 p.m. Sept. 11 at Chicago.