Lovett fell to Calhoun 49-41 Friday night in the Class AA semifinals, falling one game shy of a date at the Georgia Dome for the state title.

In front of a standing-room only crowd in Calhoun, Lovett (12-2) went toe-to-toe with the undefeated Yellow Jackets (14-0) for three quarters, but the dominant play of wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers was simply too much for Lovett to handle.

The Calhoun star (and future Georgia Bulldog) was targeted 15 times by quarterback Nash Nance (a future Vanderbilt Commodore), finishing with 10 catches, 218 yards and three touchdowns.

Lovett head coach Mike Muschamp decided to put star cornerback Taylor Mack on an island, putting him one-on-one with Rogers, and though the wide receiver had a big night, Mack played well on the few deep routes Calhoun called.

“They’ve got outstanding players and they’ve done it all year long,” he said. “We came into it thinking we were going to try and limit what they did and try to answer when we had the opportunity and when that came up we just didn’t have one in us.”

Lovett outgained the Yellow Jackets and won the turnover battle, but they simply could not handle Rogers.

“He’s special,” Muschamp said. “He’s a different breed of cat, and he just does really good stuff and we just didn’t have an answer. “

The game was back and forth for most of the first three quarters, with Lovett taking the lead 7-0 on a Zach Boden 86-yard touchdown run, but that would be the only lead the Lions would enjoy.

After tying the game at 21-21 in the third quarter, the Lions found themselves down 28-21 and punting from the 30-yard line.

Cue Rogers.

The punt team was confused, enabling Rogers to come off of the edge and block the kick, giving Calhoun excellent field position. After a Dustin Christian score, the game was all Calhoun’s.

“The blocked punt really ended up being the difference in the game,” Muschamp said. “We had a kid get hurt on the punt team, … and we were going to take a delay of game right there but we didn’t get that out and they ended up blocking it.”

Boden had yet another stellar game for the Lions, rushing for 173 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

“He’s a hard-working kid with a great attitude and he just refuses to get tackled,” Muschamp said. “He [was] hurt at the end, but he just kept on playing. He’s a fun kid to watch.”