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Saturday Boys Hoops — Corning Shootout — Trinity at Corning, 5:30 p.m. Girls Hoops — Red Bluff at West Valley Tournament Wrestling — NorCal Championships in Anderson NFLPlayoffs — Saints at Seahawks, 1 p.m., NBC NFLPlayoffs — Jets at Colts, 5 p.m., NBC BBVACompass Bowl —Pittsburgh vs. Kentucky, 9 a.m., ESPN Sports 1B Weekend January 8-9, 2011 49ers hire Jim Harbaugh San Francisco 49ers SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — All week, Jim Harbaugh had a good feeling about making the jump to the NFL and joining the San Francisco 49ers — just the way mentor and late Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh did more than 30 years ago. Declaring it a ‘‘perfect compet- itive opportunity,’’ Harbaugh accepted the job as coach of the 49ers on Friday and said his goal is to win a Lombardi Trophy for ‘‘one of the legendary franchises in all of football.’’ The successful Stanford coach receives a five-year deal and gets to remain right at home in the Bay Area, moving to the NFL after four years with the Cardinal. A longtime NFL quar- terback, he replaces fired coach Mike Singletary. ESPN reported Harbaugh’s deal is for $25 million. Harbaugh decided to leave Stanford for the pros even though San Francisco has missed the play- offs for eight straight seasons and Orange Bowl MVP quarterback Andrew Luck announced Thurs- day he would remain at Stanford for another season. ‘‘I can feel the enthusiasm coursing through my veins right now,’’ said Harbaugh, who was going to team headquarters Friday night to get to work. ‘‘I accept this competitive challenge willingly.’’ The 49ers pulled out all the stops to introduce him. The swanky Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco rolled out a special red carpet for Harbaugh’s arrival, and he showed up in a limousine for a news conference that began with a music video featuring team highlights. The Cardinal (12-1) finished with a school-record 12 wins following a 40-12 victory over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl on Monday night. It’s been a whirlwind week to say the least. Harbaugh has long admired Walsh and how he made the suc- cessful leap from Stanford to the 49ers. Harbaugh knew the man nicknamed ‘‘The Genius’’ for 18 years and once received footwork tips from the coach while playing for the Bears. ‘‘Everything that came out of his mind, his heart, his mouth, I hung on every single word.’’ Walsh thought up the orig- inal schemes that became known as the West Coast offense, which Harbaugh plans to run with the 49ers. Harbaugh has a picture of Walsh he looks at each day taped to his computer screen, but says it will be a while before any compar- isons can be made of the two. While Harbaugh said he had all but made up his mind to accept the 49ers’ offer following a meeting of MCT photo Jim Harbaugh is introduced, Friday, as the San Francisco 49ers new coach. more than six hours that went into Wednesday evening, he took a couple of days to hear out his other suitors and do his ‘‘homework’’ — and ‘‘do some soul searching’’ as new 49ers general manager Trent Baalke put it. ‘‘I knew in my heart and my gut the right decision was with the San Francisco 49ers,’’ he said. After quite a run at Stanford, Harbaugh will head some 10 miles along the 101 freeway from Stan- ford to turn around a once-proud franchise that is desperate to become a contender again right away. The 49ers were expected to win the NFC West this season, then began 0-5 for their worst start since losing seven straight to begin a 2-14 season in 1979, Walsh’s first year as coach. See 49ERS, page 2B Third time’s a charm Tehama Tracker WRESTLING NorCal Championships Five Spartans and a pair of Cardinals had perfect first days at the NorCal Championships, Friday. The prestigious wrestling tournament continues Saturday in Anderson. Dan St. John (112), Tyler Demerath (140), Dillon Reid (160), Bryce Eggert (171) and Jeff Skaggs (215) each went 2-0 for Red Bluff, which was in eighth place with 65.5 points. Corning’s Daniel Welborn (189) and Erik Miranda (215) led the Cardinals with 2-0 days. Corning was in 21st place out of 47 schools with 41.5 points. Orland leads the tournament with 94.5 points. Marco Gonzales (103), Kyle Crisel (125), Cayetano Alcarez (135) and Kyle Case (145) went 2-1, Friday, for Red Bluff. Sean Lowe (130) and Calvin Meister (171) were 2-1 for Corning. GIRLS HOOPS West Valley New Year’s Hoops Red Bluff earned a spot in the consolation final at the West Valley New Year’s Hoops tournament with a 59-36 win over Gridley, Friday night. Roxy Luppino led Red Bluff with a trio of 3-pointers on her way to 14 points. “It was a great bounce-back off the loss,” coach Kathy Brandt said. Daily News photo by Rich Greene Corning’s Cameron Nye drives along the baseline during the fourth quarter of Friday’s game. BOYS HOOPS Willows 40 Corning 45 By RICHGREENE DN Sports Editor CORNING— Half of the Cardi- nals’ four losses this season have come from the Willows Honkers. After Fri- day night, now so has one of Corning’s 10 wins. A 45-40 win over Willows not only put the Cardinals back into the champi- onship of their own Corning Shootout tournament, but avenged a pair of loss- es to Willows earlier in the season. “We played some pretty good defense tonight,” Corning coach Bill Mache said of what got his team over the hump. Ryan Holland sealed the game with a steal as the Honkers were looking for a game-tying 3-pointer with 21 sec- onds remaining. Holland was fouled instantly after the fine defensive play and calmly sank a pair of free throws on the other end. Anthony Monroe played a strong game for Corning, leading the Cardi- nals with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Cameron Nye chipped in with 10 points and Tyler McIntyre had seven. The Honkers’ trio of Ryan Welsh, Alex Alves and Forrest Bateman came into the game each averaging double- digits, but all three were held in check. Alves led the way with 10 points. Alana Hinkston added 12 points for Red Bluff. Cori Schatz had 10 and Lottie Jones chipped in with eight points. Mercy 35 University Prep 50 The Lady Warriors couldn’t hold onto a halftime lead and fell on the road to University Prep 50-35, Friday. Morgan Hampton-Glines led Mercy with 15 points and had five assists. Maggie Keller scored eight points and had 13 rebounds. Warriors send Cavs to ninth straight loss Cleveland 98 Warriors 116 Daily News photo by Rich Greene Corning’s Anthony Monroe tries to get a shot off Friday. Welsh had nine and Bateman, who picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter was held to eight points and six rebounds. Corning’s best defensive effort of the night came during the second quar- ter when they held Willows to just six points and earned a 25-21 halftime lead. The Cardinals held a three-posses- sion lead for most of the third quarter, but the Honkers wouldn’t go away. Trailing by six points with 2:31 remaining, Bryce Jones made a long 2- pointer to tighten the game to 43-39. Corning and Willows traded score- less possessions for the next 90 sec- onds until Alves earned a trip to the free throw line. He split his pair to make it 43-40, but Corning would close the door from there thanks to Holland’s steal. The Cardinals will meet Trinity in Saturday’s Corning Shootout champi- onship game set for 5:30 p.m. It’s a rematch of the 2010 final, which Corning won. Trinity knocked off Orland 50-47 in their semifinal, erasing a fourth-quarter deficit behind the play of their star Justin Jeangerard. The Wolves are 12-1 on the season. OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Monta Ellis scored 32 points, David Lee had 22 points and 14 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors beat Cleveland 116-98 on Friday night, sending the Cavaliers to their ninth straight defeat. Stephen Curry added 15 points and four assists for Gold- en State before leaving midway through the third quarter with a bruised left hip after a hard foul by Cleveland’s Mo Williams. Antawn Jamison had 21 points and five rebounds for the Cavaliers, who lost at Oracle Arena for the first time in more than two years. Overall, Cleveland has lost 19 of 20. Playing their first home game following an encouraging 2-3 road trip, the Warriors had little trouble against the NBA’s worst team. Golden State made 14 3-pointers led by as much as 21 and had five players reach double figures. Ellis led the Warriors in scoring but was equally effective dishing off, something coach Keith Smart has been pressing his veteran guard to do more of in recent weeks. It worked. Ellis had 10 assists, the fourth time this season he’s reached double digits in that category. That’s encouraging news for the Warriors (15-21), who ended a four-game home losing streak to the Cavs.