CHARLOTTE — The San Francisco 49ers are headed back to the NFC title game. They outlasted the Carolina Panthers, 23-10, in a rugged conference semifinal here Sunday and will play at Seattle next weekend in their third NFC championship game in three seasons under Coach Jim Harbaugh.
Quarterback Colin Kaepernick threw for one touchdown and ran for another as the fifth-seeded 49ers won their eighth straight game, six of them in the regular season and two in the playoffs. They’ll play the top-seeded Seahawks next Sunday as the 49ers attempt to reach the Super Bowl for a second straight season.
They intercepted Panthers quarterback Cam Newton twice and scored the game’s final 17 points to end second-seeded Carolina’s season. Newton threw a first-half touchdown pass to wide receiver Steve Smith, but the Panthers hurt themselves with penalties on defense and an inability to convert their chances near the San Francisco goal line. The defense of the 49ers had a pair of first-half goal line stands, stopping the Panthers once on downs — although Carolina got the ball back quickly and scored a touchdown — and then yielding only a field goal.
Kaepernick gave the 49ers the lead with a touchdown pass to tight end Vernon Davis in the final seconds of the first half and added a third-quarter touchdown run. Wide receiver Anquan Boldin had eight catches for 136 yards for the 49ers and place kicker Phil Dawson provided three field goals. The 49ers shut out the Panthers in the second half.
The Panthers beat the 49ers, 10-9, in a regular season game in San Francisco in November. The 49ers grabbed a 6-0 lead in the combative early going of this game, aided by a pair of personal fouls called on the Carolina defense that led to field goals by Dawson. Panthers Coach Ron Rivera appeared angry as he spoke to the officials about the calls. But his team’s intensity on defense was creating a few unwanted consequences, and Newton set up the second field goal by throwing a tipped-pass interception to 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis.
Carolina finally got moving on offense late in the first quarter and managed a first down at the San Francisco 6-yard line. But fullback Mike Tolbert was stopped for no gain on a third-down carry from the 1, and Rivera faced a fourth-down decision as the teams moved to the opposite end of the field for the opening of the second quarter. Rivera left his offense on the field but Newton was stopped shy of the goal line on his fourth-down quarterback sneak.
Rivera’s gamble didn’t totally backfire, however, as the Carolina defense kept the 49ers from getting a first down and a 24-yard punt return by Ted Ginn Jr. put the Panthers back in business at the San Francisco 31-yard line. They wasted no time cashing in this time, as Newton immediately connected with Smith for a touchdown. Cornerback Tarell Brown was in close proximity to Smith along the sideline but Newton put his throw on target and Smith made the catch.
The Panthers got the ball back and moved to a first down at the San Francisco 7. Newton ran for six yards on first down. But the 49ers defense again toughened at the goal line. Tolbert was tackled for a one-yard loss on third down from the 1 and this time Rivera and the Panthers settled for a field goal by place kicker Graham Gano.
The 49ers reclaimed the lead five seconds before halftime when Kaepernick, on second down from the Carolina 1-yard line, threw a pass that Davis caught along the sideline near the back of the end zone. The officials originally ruled that Davis had failed to get both feet in bounds and called the pass incomplete, prompting Harbaugh to run on the field in protest and receive an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. But the incompletion call was overturned via an instant-replay review and Davis was awarded a touchdown, and Harbaugh’s penalty was enforced on the ensuing kickoff.
San Francisco upped its lead to 20-10 early in the third quarter on Kaepernick’s four-yard touchdown run, set up by his 45-yard completion to Boldin. Kaepernick punctuated the touchdown by borrowing Newton’s celebration of pretending to show off a “Superman” emblem on his chest. Dawson’s third field goal made it a 23-10 game midway through the fourth quarter.
