The Calhoun Yellow Jackets can now start looking ahead to a trip to the Georgia Dome.

The Darlington Tigers can now start reflecting on a season that surpassed all expectations.

Calhoun, the No. 1-ranked team in Class AA, maintained its perfect record and continued its pursuit of a state championship by beating Lovett, 49-41, on Friday night at Phil Reeve Stadium in the AA semifinals. The victory sends the Jackets (14-0) into next Friday’s title game at the Georgia Dome, where they will face defending champion Buford at 4:30 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s title game.

Darlington, meanwhile, saw its thrilling playoff run come to an end on Friday with a 24-10 loss to Savannah Christian at Chris Hunter Stadium.

The defeat denied the Tigers of what would have been their first appearance in the championship game since winning the state title in 1998.

“After the hurt is over with from this loss, we’ll be look back and be proud of what we accomplished,” said Darlington head coach Tommy Atha. “We would have liked to be in the Dome, but it just didn’t work out. This group of seniors are seven warriors, and they refused to accept that we couldn’t be a good football team.”

In Calhoun’s win, the Jackets compiled almost 500 yards of total offense. Dustin Christian ran for three scores, and Da’Rick Rogers caught three TD passes from Nash Nance to highlight the latest in a long string of impressive showings by the Jackets.

“This is a special bunch,” Calhoun head coach Hal Lamb said. “They’ve gone through a lot of adversity this year with a lot of things that have gone on and they’ve hung together.

“We just need to go finish this thing off next week. Our goal from Day 1 was to win a state championship and now we’ve got that opportunity.”

In Darlington’s loss, the Tigers battled No. 2-ranked SCA to a 10-10 tie at the half, but the visiting Raiders scored two TDs in the third quarter to pull ahead for good.

In Alabama, the Cherokee County Warriors rallied for a 31-27 comeback victory to gain the school’s first-ever football championship.

The win also sealed a perfect 15-0 season.