Jaruegui and Whitworth of Fountain Valley won all four of their matches by fall Saturday on their way to first-place finishes at the CIF Southern Section Inland Division boys wrestling individual championships at Fountain Valley High.

Jauregui, a sophomore, pinned Hesperia’s Zachary Southern in 1 minute and 7 seconds in the 106-pound final. Top-seeded in his weight class, Jauregui had a first-round bye before pinning his first two opponents in less than 60 seconds.

Whitworth, a CIF-SS champion at 195 pounds last year, won the 215-pound Inland Division title Saturday. The senior pinned Irvine’s Joseph Tierney in 39 seconds in the championship match.

Jauregui and Whitworth were named outstanding wrestlers of the meet.

Fountain Valley won the CIF-SS individual tournament team championship for the second year in a row. It is the seventh CIF-SS wrestling team championship for Fountain Valley.

With six wrestlers winning their weight classes, Fountain Valley tallied 333 points. Hesperia was second with 204 points and Newport Harbor was third with 183 points. Corona del Mar finished fifth with 166 points and Laguna Hills was seventh with 111.5 points.

The other Fountain Valley section champions Saturday were Anthony Lucio at 126 pounds, Hercules Windrath at 138, Rocky Windrath at 165 and Khale McDonnell at 190 pounds.

Whitworth was satisfied that long hours of preparation got him to the top of the medals podium again.

“All the work pays off,” said Whitworth, ranked No. 4 in California at his weight division by CalGrappler.com. “It makes this tournament a lot easier. I get to hang out and watch our whole team compete and win.”

At 215 pounds- Fountain Valley’s Ryland Whitworth (blue) vs Makoa McCreadie. Good battle. Whitworth, No. 4 in the state at 215, won by fall in this semifinal ⁦@CIFSS⁩ Inland Division finals at Fountain Valley HS pic.twitter.com/cLQXfDCZOl

— Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) February 10, 2024

Jauregui expected to pin all of his opponents, and he did.

“All of my confidence comes from my training, my coaches, my family and my teammates,” Jauregui said. “They all motivate me.”

The top six finishers in the 106, 120, 132, 144 and 190-pound weight divisions advanced to the CIF-SS Masters Meet that will be held Friday, Feb. 16, at Palm Springs High School. The top five finishers in the other weight categories advance to the Masters Meet, which is the qualifying meet for the CIF State Championships.

In one of the better matches of the day, McDonnell beat Corona del Mar’s Eugenio Franco in a 4-3 decision. Franco is a couple of inches shorter than McDonnell, with a low center of gravity that enabled Franco to push the attack.

“He’s very hard to open up and get it on,” said McDonnell, a CIF-SS champion at 170 pounds last year.

Windrath also is a CIF-SS repeat champion, having won at 138 pounds last season. He said Fountain Valley’s wrestling success is a result of the program’s athletes pushing each other to succeed.

“It’s the energy that everyone gives off on each other,” Windrath said. “Everyone makes everyone else work hard.”

Newport Harbor had two champions, Demian Priyama at 132 pounds and Anthony Manno at 150 pounds.

Manno’s win was among the more dramatic ones Saturday. He won by fall in the second overtime, defeating Christian Stoeber of Fountain Valley in an entertaining battle.

Manno and Stoeber were tangled when Manno made his move.

“I was just trying to put a leg in and get it to another overtime,” Manno said. “Then I decided, ‘Why not go for it?’”

Priyama might have had underdog status going into Saturday’s finals.

“Everyone’s beatable,” Priyama said. “I just stopped looking at the rankings because they don’t mean anything.”

Antonio Aramburu and Zion Hernandez of Corona del Mar won championships, Aramburu at 157 pounds and Hernandez at 175 pounds. Hernandez was a CIF-SS champion last year at 160 pounds.

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Jaylon Tyson scored 16 points, Jalen Celestine 13 and Fardaws Aimaq scored 12 and grabbed 12 rebounds for Cal before fouling out.

Sebastian Mack made 1 of 2 foul shots for the Bruins with four seconds left for a 61-57 advantage. Celestine made a 3-pointer with .1 seconds left that made it a one-point game but the Bruins’ inbounded the ball to end it.

Both teams struggled to shoot as they each missed eight foul shots.

Aimaq’s put back off a Tyson miss gave Cal its last lead at 57-56 with 36 seconds remaining. Andrews’ jumper 12 seconds later gave UCLA the lead for good.

UCLA led 35-24 at halftime and it maintained the double-digit lead for the first six minutes of the second half before Cal got back into contention.

The Golden Bears outscored UCLA 12-6 and got within 47-41 on a layup from Tyson with 10:08 left. Berke Buyuktuncel made a 3 for UCLA for a nine-point lead before Cal scored eight straight reducing its deficit to 50-49 following a 3 from Celestine with 5:55 left. The score stayed that way until Tyson’s basket with 3:05 left gave Cal its first lead since four minutes into the game.

With the win, the Bruins (13-11, 8-5 Pac-12) moved into a third-place tie with Oregon. UCLA hosts Colorado on Thursday.

Cal (10-14, 6-7) travels to Pullman, Washington, to take on Washington State on Thursday.

Whether the daughter of Carpe Diem is a serious contender for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 3 is another matter, but the winner showed enough Saturday to vault her atop the other 3-year-old fillies on the local circuit.

Given a characteristically strong ride by Juan Hernandez, even-money favorite Kinza passed her first test around two turns with flying colors, easily holding off 6-5 second choice Kopion by two lengths. She’s a Tempest, a 16-1 longshot, finished another 1½ lengths behind in third.

Kinza, who broke her maiden by 7½ lengths at Santa Anita on Dec. 29, carved out fractions of 22.99, 46.91 and 1:10.82 en route to a time of 1:37.03 for the mile run over a fast main track.

“This filly, she has a lot of talent,” Hernandez said. “She broke on top. Last time she showed a lot of speed. Today it was a faster pace, but she handled it pretty good. I felt like I was putting in a really good pace. My feeling was that she was really comfortable in front. I never asked her to go that fast. She was doing it all on her own.”

The only question was whether Kinza could successfully navigate two turns, but longtime Baffert assistant Jimmy Barnes didn’t see that as a problem going in.

“She acts like a filly that can handle (two turns),” Barnes said. “You don’t know until you do it, but she had shown in the morning in her workouts that she could go further. I was more concerned there was so much speed, with a small field and a lot of speed.”

Kopion, ridden by Flavien Prat, went into the race off a maiden victory by 3¾ lengths at Del Mar on Nov. 26 and a 5¾-length win in the Grade III Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 7. The Omaha Beach filly also was making her two-turn debut.

Kinza and Kopion may duel again in the $300,000 Grade II Santa Anita Oaks on April 6.

Palos Verdes Stakes

Big City Lights, a 5-year-old California-bred by Mr. Big sent postward as the 2-5 favorite, got the bob at the wire in the $100,000 Grade III stakes race and edged pacesetting Hopkins by a nose. Final time for the 6 furlongs was 1:09.91.

“Had it all the way,” cracked winning trainer Richard Mandella, who came up second best in the day’s other two stakes races.

Hopkins, the 9-5 second choice, set the pace with fractions of 22.75 and 45.09 and appeared like he was going to hold on for the victory, but Big City Lights and Prat put on a strong closing surge in the final 50 yards.

“I was (concerned) he didn’t get away running like he usually does,” Mandella said. “I noticed that he did grab a quarter (stepped on his own foot). I didn’t think it was bad, but it was enough to set him back the first part. He showed his class, he dug in and fought it out anyway.”

San Marcos Stakes

Missed the Cut, the 6-5 favorite, got a rail-skimming ride by Joel Rosario and won the $100,000 Grade III turf race for 4-year-olds and older under the tutelage of trainer John Sadler.

Planetario, the 2-1 co-second choice with Balladeer, finished second, 1¼ lengths behind the winner, who covered the 1¼ miles over a grass course labeled “good” in 2:01.14.

Balladeer finished third, 5¼ lengths behind the runner-up, but was disqualified and placed fourth for interference at the top of the stretch.

After the race, Sadler mentioned a race at Royal Ascot in Great Britain in June as a possible target for Missed the Cut, a 5-year-old son of Quality Road.

Sunny Hills’ Keith Nighswonger has seen plenty of impressive achievements in 41 years of coaching high school water polo but his girls team still found a way to dazzle him in the CIF-SS playoffs on Saturday.

The Freeway League champion blanked a swift Canyon squad in the second half en route to an 8-3 victory in the Division 2 quarterfinals at Yorba Linda High.

“OMG!” Nighswonger exclaimed to his players in their postgame huddle. “That’s all I can say.”

In advancing to the semifinals for the second consecutive season, Sunny Hills (24-8) outscored Canyon (23-7) 5-0 in the second half to break open a duel tied at halftime

Cal State Fullerton-bound goalie Sienna Bertsch anchored the defensive effort by making seven of her 12 saves in the final two periods, including a penalty shot in the third.

The Lancers also stopped all three of the Comanches’ power-play chances in the second half.

Sunny Hills used a team effort to quiet a Canyon offense that netted 20 goals in the first round of the playoffs.

Sophomore Abby Reekstin denied one power-play chance in the third quarter with a field block. Her sister Hannah, another Cal State Fullerton signee, added two of her three steals in the second half. And seniors Katelyn Fu and Ileina Hatori guarded San Diego State-bound attacker Delanney Ewing of Canyon.

Hatori, the Lancers’ third Cal State Fullerton commit, finished with three steals.

“We really adjusted to their kind of offense,” Bertsch said. “We had to start driving (Ewing) down when we were on offense so she couldn’t counter us back.”

“The good thing about our team is that we don’t just do one set kind of defense,” the senior added. “We adjust.”

Ewing scored on an early counterattack and backhanded shot from center to give the Crestview League runner-up an 2-0 lead in the opening period.

Sunny Hills took its first lead early in the second half on a long perimeter strike by Hannah Reekstin shortly after senior Eden Buell won the sprint.

The goal signaled the Lancers’ offensive intentions in the second half. Buell added two perimeter strikes en route to three goals.

Fu added a late putback to finish with three goals.

Sunny Hills will face No. 1 seeded Agoura, a 13-6 winner against Irvine, in the semifinals Wednesday. “We’re excited,” Nighswonger said. “We’ll give them our best. If they can move quicker than our defense can move, then tip your cap to them.”

In the other Division 2 semifinal, Beckman will meet Alta Loma on Wednesday. The Pacific Coast League champion Patriots advanced with an 11-8 triumph against El Toro in the quarterfinals.

In Division 1:

San Clemente 10, Murrieta Valley 3: Juniors Talyn Pelky and Phoebe DeMoss each scored three goals and sophomore Emmi Franklin added six assists to lead the South Coast League champion Tritons at San Juan Hills High. The Tritons will play JSerra in the semifinals Wednesday.

JSerra 13, Harvard-Westlake 12 (OT): Freshman Victoria Williams scored four goals and sophomore Sloane Paulson added three to lead the host Lions.

But that’s exactly what happened in the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ 112-106 victory against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday. His hard-charging slam with 5:47 left gave the Clippers a 98-94 lead that they never relinquished, immortalizing his dunking ability not only in a figurine but in the minds of the fans at Crypto.com Arena.

“I just happened (to make it) happen on my bobblehead night,” George said.

George’s eye-popping dunk was an exclamation point to his game-high 33-point game, scoring 20 of his points in the second-half comeback. The Clippers had trailed by as many as 13 in the first half against the Pistons, who came into the game having won just seven games this season.

“I give Monty (Williams, Pistons coach) credit, I give the Pistons credit,” George said. “They’re playing well over the past three or four games … this is one of those tough games.”

Whether it was the dunk or his dominating play, George seemed to find a new fan. Pistons center Jaden Duren asked for George’s jersey shortly after the game. The Clippers All-Star obliged, handing Duren a sweaty No. 13 jersey.

Yet it was Pistons’ point guard Cade Cunningham that impressed George. Cunningham finished with 20 points, six rebounds and 10 assists.

“I love Cade’s game. He’s really good,” George said. “He’s athletic. He’s strong. I think that’s really where he’s going to be a problem for many years to come.

“You talk about his size, his ball-handling ability, his play-making ability, and just how strong he is, and they got a strong nucleus of their core.

“They are going to be good when they figure it out playing together. But I love his game. He’s competitive. I think he’s a great leader at such a young age already. He’s going to be good and I’m looking forward to watching his success throughout the season.”

ONE MONTH LATER

It’s been a month since teammate Kawhi Leonard signed a three-year, $153 million extension and it was believed that George would sign an extension soon afterward. But there hasn’t been any announcement of a deal being reached.

Is the goal for both sides to come to an agreement?

“That’s the goal.”

Is there any new update?

“That’s the goal.”

HARD HIT

Norman Powell suffered a deep gash between his eyebrows when Duren elbowed him while both went up for a rebound in the fourth quarter. He lay in a pool of blood on the court before heading to the locker room with 5:12 to play.

Powell, sporting a bandage that covered stitches, said he would be fine. “Yeah, I’m tough,” he said.

More importantly, the Griffins, the No. 6 seed in the division, defeated the No. 3 Cougars by a cumulative score of 3-1 over their two-game series, and now advance to the quarterfinals round, which begins Wednesday.

Under the format for the new Open Division, each team’s cumulative score for both games is used to determine the winner.

Los Alamitos (16-5-5) defeated the Cougars (18-4-1) 2-1 in their opening-round game Thursday at Los Alamitos.

The Griffins were awarded the free kick when a foul for hand ball inside the box was called against the Cougars.

Prior to the foul, the Griffins’ Victoria Bloch was dribbling the ball along the left side of field and sent a cross pass into the box.

“It’s a great feeling because I know we’ve been working hard since our game at home and this game,” said Zacarias, who had two assists in Thursday’s game to go along with her goal on Saturday. “We’ve been pushing, pushing, pushing. So obviously it’s worth it with all of our hard work. It feels amazing, but we know we have to continue. We know we’re not even close to being done.”

The format will be the same for the next leg, which are the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

If the Griffins have a higher cumulative score over the two games, they’ll advance to a division final for the second year in a row. Los Alamitos will face the winner of the No. 7 seed Mater Dei-No. 2 seed Santiago of Corona series.

All three of the Griffins’ goals in the series were scored off set pieces, which included goals off of a corner kick and free kick in the first game and then the penalty kick in the second game.

“We work at a lot of those in practice and they paid dividends,” Los Alamitos coach Pat Rossi said.

With eight starters returning from last season’s team that played in a Southern Section final and a state final, experience was a key factor in the victory, Rossi said.

“There was a big sophomore class last year that are juniors so now they’re upperclassmen,” Rossi said. “They’ve been going to (Southern Section) finals and to state finals. They’re used to these moments.”

Prior to being selected to play in the Open Division for the playoffs, the Cougars and Griffins were ranked No. 5 and No. 6 respectively in Division 1 of the CIF Southern Section.

The teams were squaring off for the first time this season.

“To end up being ranked in the top eight and in the first ever Open Division, I think that is something for us to be very proud of,” Capistrano Valley coach Erick Ornelas said. “Overall, having the record that we had, I think it showed the caliber of players that we had to get here.

“Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get the job done here over the last two games, but the score doesn’t reflect what the game was today. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get the ball moving.”

The Clippers trailed by 13 points early in the first half and by nine at halftime. Then Paul George and Kawhi Leonard upped their games to lead the Clippers to the tougher-than-expected victory.

“We were sloppy and then scrappy,” George said.

And that is what can happen, Coach Tyronn Lue said no matter the time of day.

“You’re not going to play great every night and like I told you before the game, Monty has his team playing fast, they’re playing well together,” Lue said. “They execute and their pace, like attacking the basket, attacking the rims, especially with (Jaden) Ivey, really puts a lot of pressure on us.

“But I give our guys credit for just staying with it, being resilient and finding a way to win this game.”

That came largely at the hands of George, who scored 20 of his game-high 33 points in the second half – 15 in the fourth quarter – and Leonard, who posted 24 points and five assists.

The Clippers went to work quickly in the second half, chipping away at the Pistons’ lead to pull within 88-86 in the fourth quarter after James Harden was fouled on a short jumper and made the free throw to complete the three-point play. Less than a minute later, he again was fouled, this time on a 3-point attempt, and made all three free throws to give the Clippers their first lead, 89-88, since early in the game.

The lead changed several times before Norman Powell’s driving layup with 6:59 left gave the Clippers a 96-92 lead they never relinquished. Powell later left the game after getting hit with an elbow in the face. He needed stitches to close the two-inch gash between his eyebrows.

The Clippers didn’t let up. The Pistons kept up the pressure, but the closest they could come down the stretch was five as George continued his assault.

George gave the Clippers a 98-94 lead with a powerful dunk, just a part of his second-half effort. His shooting had been off lately because of a lingering groin issue but he showed no effects of the injury Saturday. He shot 14 of 24 from the field and 4 of 13 from 3-point range and had five rebounds and three assists.

Harden finished with 14 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Russell Westbrook had 13 points and Amir Coffey 12.

More likely, it was the energetic play of a young Pistons team, not the early hour, that initially threw the Clippers off. The Clippers became only the fifth team in NBA history not to record an offensive rebound among their 35 total rebounds.

The Pistons pulled down 57 boards.

“We played early against one of the young teams and you got to be ready for them,” George said. “I thought they were ready to come out.

“We had to make the adjustments about playing the small ball and that helped us with creating energy. I think that was just the turning point of the game.”

The victory put the Clippers (35-16) into second place in the Western Conference, a half-game behind the Minnesota Timberwolves (36-16). The teams meet on Monday at Crypto.com Arena.

Amid a potentially historically bad season, the Pistons (7-44) came into the afternoon game having won their past two games, and while their play was erratic at times and some shots missed the basket completely, they played much more aggressively than the veteran team on the other side of the court.

The Clippers clearly weren’t ready for what the Pistons brought to Crypto.com Arena.

Jaden Ivey led Detroit with 23 points, Cade Cunningham added 22 points, six rebounds and 10 assists, and Simone Fontecchio, who was traded to Detroit by the Utah Jazz, scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds off the bench in his Pistons debut.

Jalen Duren finished with 10 points and 18 rebounds.

Coach Tyronn Lue knew what the Clippers were getting into, warning that the Clippers needed to be prepared to run against a team that had turned over nearly half their team before the trade deadline.

“We just have to be ready for today from start to finish,” Lue said. “You can’t think about how they started or the losing streak and all that. They’re a pretty good team, they are playing better basketball and they’re going to be a pretty good team.”

Almost better than the Clippers on Saturday.

The Clippers couldn’t get out of their own way in the first half. They turned the ball over eight times, which led to 11 Pistons points. They were 6 of 19 from 3-point range and were outrebounded by 17, posting no offensive boards, in the first 24 minutes that ultimately led to a 58-49 Pistons halftime lead.

Largely, the Pistons outplayed the Clippers, who were looking to get back on a winning streak after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday.

Not helping matters was the poor shooting by Harden and Mann in the opening half. Harden was 1 of 5 – all 3-point attempts – and Mann was scoreless with two shots.

Lue had mentioned before the game that Pistons coach Monte Williams would have the young team playing like contenders at some point once they learn how to win. Despite their record, the Pistons have been in several games down the stretch but have been unable to close out opponents.

“The execution is there; the young guys are getting better. They are understanding the system. That’s all you can ask for.”

And not to notch an elusive victory against your team.

The numbers Mahomes has put up in those games would be staggering even if they were produced in the regular season.

Mahomes has 5,260 yards combined passing and rushing in those games, has accounted for 44 touchdowns through the air and on the ground and helped the Chiefs win 14 of the 17 games.

The only players besides Mahomes to reach those numbers in an entire regular season are Tom Brady (2021), Peyton Manning (2013) and Drew Brees (2011).

Mahomes’ 309.4 yards rushing and passing per game in the postseason are less than 7 yards behind his regular-season rate and more than 15 yards better than anyone else’s career mark in the regular season with Andrew Luck next at 293.7.

Mahomes’ 14 wins in the postseason before even turning 29 are already tied for the third most of any quarterback, trailing only Joe Montana with 16 and Tom Brady with 35.

He can join Brady (six), Montana (four), Terry Bradshaw (four) and Troy Aikman (three) as the only QBs to win at least three Super Bowl starts.

With a big performance Sunday, Mahomes has a chance to catch everyone but Brady in total touchdowns running and passing in his playoff career. He currently ranks fifth with 44 and needs one to tie Brett Favre, three to match Montana and five to equal Aaron Rodgers’ mark. Catching Brady’s 95 in his career will take a lot more time.

Mahomes’ 39 career TD passes in the postseason are the sixth most ever and more than 11 franchises have in their entire histories.

QB SHUFFLE

While Mahomes is making his fourth Super Bowl start in the past five seasons, the NFC will once again have a new quarterback.

Brock Purdy will be the 10th quarterback to start a Super Bowl for the NFC team in the past 10 seasons, following Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, Nick Foles, Jared Goff, Jimmy Garoppolo, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford and Jalen Hurts.

There has been much less change over the past two decades in the AFC with QBs such as Mahomes, Brady and Manning garnering the majority of the starts.

Led by Brady’s nine starts for New England, there have been only 10 QBs to start the Super Bowl for the AFC in the past 27 seasons.

Purdy also will make the 49ers the first franchise ever with five starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl with Joe Montana having four, and Steve Young, Colin Kaepernick and Garoppolo one each.

Purdy also will be the third-youngest starting quarterback in the Super Bowl at 24 years, 46 days. Dan Marino was the youngest at 23 years, 127 days in Super Bowl 19 for Miami and Ben Roethlisberger was 23 years, 340 days for Pittsburgh in Super Bowl 40.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

The Chiefs have relied heavily on their offense in their past two title runs, but it’s been the defense carrying a big load this season.

Kansas City has held the opponent to fewer than 28 points in all 20 games in the regular season or playoffs, with Green Bay scoring the most in a 27-19 win in Week 13.

Only five teams have ever won a Super Bowl allowing fewer than 28 points in each game but none of those teams played as many games as the Chiefs.

Tampa Bay did it in all 19 games in 2002. The other four doing it when the regular season was only 14 games and there were only three playoff games needed: the Dolphins in 1972 and ’73, the 1969 Chiefs and the 1967 Packers.

TALE OF TWO HALVES

Kansas City’s offense looked close to its usual self in the first half of games this season, but has fallen off dramatically after halftime.

The Chiefs were the sixth-highest scoring team in the first half of games with 243 points, but scored only 128 in the second half, tied for the third fewest.

That was tied for the seventh-biggest drop-off since 1991 with the most recent time a team fell off by more coming in 2014 when the Packers scored 134 fewer points and the 49ers scored 123 fewer points in the second half of games.

The Chiefs were held scoreless in the second half four times this season, doing it three straight games in the middle of the season and again in the AFC title game.

The Niners were far more consistent, leading the league in the regular season with 267 first-half points and ranking third with 224 in the second half.

That changed in the postseason with San Francisco scoring only 14 points before halftime and 44 in the second of back-to-back comebacks.

The Chiefs propensity to start fast has been evident in the playoffs. They have scored on the opening drive of all three games to extend their postseason streak to eight in a row with six touchdowns and two field goals.

No other team since at least the 2000 season has scored on the first in more than four consecutive games.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

The Chiefs will probably feel right at home at Allegiant Stadium having played — and won — here every season since the Raiders arrived in Las Vegas in 2020.

Kansas City is 4-0 at the venue and with a win on Sunday, Mahomes and Andy Reid will have the most wins by any quarterback-coach duo in stadium history.

That’s thanks in large part to the Raiders going through four coaches in their four seasons in Las Vegas and changing quarterbacks this season.

The Raiders have three duos with four wins at Allegiant Stadium with Derek Carr doing it with Jon Gruden and Josh McDaniels, and Aidan O’Connell doing it this past season with Antonio Pierce.

This Super Bowl will come down to the other side of the ball.

Defense wins the Vince Lombardi Trophy on Sunday.

Kansas City is seeking to become the NFL’s first repeat champion in 19 years. San Francisco is aiming for a record-tying sixth Super Bowl title.

Mahomes, Travis Kelce and coach Andy Reid get most of the attention on the Chiefs (14-6), but defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s unit deserves plenty of credit for carrying the team during various points of the season when the offense was inconsistent and out of sync.

All-Pros Chris Jones and Trent McDuffie along with George Karlaftis, L’Jarius Sneed and others stepped up, giving the Chiefs their best defense of Mahomes’ era.

They’ll need to do it for one more game against a versatile, dynamic offense.

The 49ers (14-5) also have a formidable defense led by Nick Bosa, All-Pro Fred Warner, Javon Hargrave and Charvarius Ward. They’ve struggled in the postseason, especially making third-down stops.

They have to be better against Mahomes and the Chiefs to have a shot to win.

WHEN THE 49ERS HAVE THE BALL

The 49ers had the league’s third-ranked rushing attack behind McCaffrey and fourth-ranked passing offense behind Purdy. The Chiefs gave up the second-fewest points (17.3), were fourth against the pass and 18th against the run.

McCaffrey, tight end Kittle, left tackle Trent Williams and fullback Kyle Juszczyk were All-Pros. Brandon Aiyuk was a second-team All-Pro. Samuel is a versatile, do-everything player.

The 49ers have plenty of weapons, and coach Kyle Shanahan is known for finding innovative ways to use them and keep defenses off balance. He’s facing a master tactician in Spagnuolo.

It’ll be a chess match.

Spagnuolo has a penchant for blitzing. Purdy excelled against it.

The 49ers have to block Jones, who can be a game-wrecker. McDuffie is a shutdown slot cornerback and Sneed allowed only one receiver all season to have more than 50 yards receiving in a game so Purdy has a tough task.

He led the NFL with a 113.0 passer rating on 4,280 yards, 31 TDs, 11 picks and a 69.4% completion rate.

McCaffrey led the NFL with 1,459 yards rushing and had 14 rushing TDs for San Francisco. He also had 564 yards receiving for seven scores.

Kittle had 65 catches for 1,020 yards and six TDs. Aiyuk led the way with 75 receptions for 1,342 yards and seven scores. Samuel had 1,117 yards from scrimmage.

A wild card for San Francisco’s offense is Purdy’s surprising mobility. His scrambling was a major factor as he led comeback wins against the Lions and Packers in the playoffs.

The Chiefs shut down two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, the best running QB in the NFL, so they’ll be ready for Purdy.

WHEN THE CHIEFS HAVE THE BALL

The Chiefs had the league’s sixth-ranked passing offense behind Mahomes and 19th-ranked rushing attack.

The 49ers were 14th against the pass and third against the run, but they have allowed 13 of 25 third-down conversions in the playoffs.

Mahomes is a brilliant playmaker who finds unique ways to make big plays when it seems nothing is available. The two-time NFL and Super Bowl MVP threw for 4,183 yards with 27 touchdowns, a career-high 14 interceptions and career-low 92.6 passer rating. His receivers dropped 44 passes, the most in the league.

The Chiefs’ offense runs through Mahomes and Kelce. Without a deep threat – Tyreek Hill was traded to Miami two years ago – Reid has turned the passing offense into a shorter, carve-up attack.

Rashee Rice has the ability to turn screens into big plays and veteran Marquez Valdes-Scantling has averaged 21.6 yards per catch in the playoffs.

Kelce had 93 catches for 984 yards and five TDs in the regular season and he has taken his game to another level in the playoffs, with 23 catches for 262 yards and three scores in three games. Rice had 79 receptions for 938 yards and seven TDs in the regular season.

The Chiefs have to use running back Isiah Pacheco to balance the offense. He ran for 935 yards and seven TDs in the regular season, and he has 254 yards and three scores in the playoffs.

Reid is one of the NFL’s most creative coaches, and he’s willing to add new wrinkles in the biggest games.

Kansas City again won’t have All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney and the offensive line has a big challenge protecting Mahomes from Bosa, Hargrave and the rest of San Francisco’s pass rush.

Warner and Dre Greenlaw can control of the middle of the field and limit some of Kelce’s opportunities, forcing the Chiefs to attack outside.

Mahomes can always make plays with his legs. He scrambled for 26 first downs in the regular season.

Playing on an injured ankle in last year’s Super Bowl, he had a big scramble on Kansas City’s go-ahead drive in a comeback win over Philadelphia.

If the 49ers bring the heat and turn up the pressure like Tampa Bay did against Mahomes in the Super Bowl three years ago, that could be trouble for the Chiefs.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Niners rookie kicker Jake Moody was 21 of 25 on field goals in the regular season, but he’s looked shaky in the playoffs, with two misses in five tries. His longest field goal was 57 yards.

Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker made 33 of 35 field goals in the regular season, including all five from beyond 50 yards. He hasn’t missed in the playoffs, making seven field goals and seven extra points. Butker’s 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left gave the Chiefs a 38-35 win over Philadelphia in last season’s Super Bowl.San Francisco punter Mitch Wishnowsky had a 42.7-yard net average. Kansas City’s Tommy Townsend had a 41.9-yard net average.

The Chiefs use Mecole Hardman and Richie James for returns. Hardman had the longest punt return at 50 yards and James had the longest kick return at 31.

The 49ers will sometimes use Samuel on kick returns, with Ray-Ray McCloud getting most of the returns on punts and kicks.

COACHING

Shanahan is 8-3 in the playoffs and 0-2 in Super Bowls, including one as an assistant. His 49ers blew a lead against the Chiefs in this game four years ago and he was offensive coordinator for Atlanta when the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead against Tom Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl 51.

Reid is a likely future Hall of Famer. He already has two Super Bowl rings and is the winningest coach in the history of the Chiefs and Eagles.

INTANGIBLES

The 49ers initially were 2½-point favorites, but the line dropped to 1½ on Saturday, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. They’ve been favored in every game this season. The Chiefs have embraced the underdog role in the playoffs, going on the road to beat Buffalo and Baltimore.

Reid and Mahomes are chasing Bill Belichick and Brady. They’ve got to win four more Super Bowls to match them.