Four of the five area teams that entered the high school football playoffs are still alive, but this week’s challenging second round contests might mean the end of the road for some teams.

Flowery Branch (10-1) cruised to a 28-6 win over Southwest DeKalb in its first playoff game as a Class AAAA school, but will now travel to take on Kell (11-0) in the second round. The Longhorns won Region 5-AAAA and entered the playoffs ranked No. 4 in the state.

The playoff competition also gets tougher for the Region 8-AAA teams, which now play teams from a strong Region 5-AAA that went 4-0 in the opening round.

Top-seeded Gainesville (10-1) gets the easiest of the four teams, as the Red Elephants play host to Cedar Grove, which beat Cartersville 30-24 in the first round. That was the sixth game this year that Cedar Grove has scored 30 points or more, and it’ll need that type of scoring output if it hopes to keep pace with Gainesville.

After escaping the first round with a 28-20 win over LaGrange, White County (9-2) has the daunting task of playing a Grady team that finished first in Region 5-AAA and beat Gilmer 48-0 in the first round.

Buford, which dismantled Hart County 52-22 in the first round, plays host to Callaway (8-3), a 30-8 winner over Rockmart in the opening round.

NEW SEASONS BEGIN: As the football season winds down, the 2010-11 basketball season begins with opening night set for Tuesday for three local teams.

East Hall’s girls and boys tip things off with a visit to Winder-Barrow at 6 p.m., while the Lakeview Academy girls visit West Hall.

Riverside Military opens its season Wednesday with a visit to Rabun Gap, with the remaining teams in the area opening play Friday and Saturday.

Wrestling season also begins this week.

ATLANTA FALCONS: Fresh off their thrilling, last-minute win over the Baltimore Ravens last week, the Falcons travel to the midwest to take on the surprising Rams.

Atlanta has won three of the last four meetings against St. Louis including a 47-17 win in the 2005 NFC Divisional Round.
The Rams (4-5) lost 23-20 in overtime against San Francisco on Sunday.