Matt Cleland does a great deal for CB West in football but future could be in rugby

BUCKINGHAM — Matt Cleland is an integral part of the Central Bucks West football team.

Cleland, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound junior, has made an impact on offense, defense and special teams for the Bucks, who closed out the regular season with Friday night's 21-14 victory at rival Central Bucks East.

He returned a kickoff 64 yards for a touchdown in a 56-14 win over Quakertown, in addition to taking a high snap as the punter and turning it into a 32-yard gain and a first down.

In a 22-0 victory over Neshaminy, Cleland recovered a bad snap at the West 23-yard line and boomed a 61-yard punt. He also had a 29-yard run on a fake punt to keep a 99-yard drive alive vs. CB South and added a 90-yard scoring run against Pennsbury.

During a 26-7 win over Pennridge, Cleland tackled Army-West Point commit Brennan Fisher for a 9-yard loss and later sacked quarterback Noah Keating for an 8-yard loss.

He plays outside linebacker and some defensive end, as well as punts, kicks off and occasionally chips in at wingback, fullback and even receiver.

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"He's been tremendous for us this year," said West coach Rob Rowan. "(With) his mindset and approach to the game, he's kind of like a throwback. He's old school. He's so tough, so coachable and so versatile. We can ask him to do so many different things and whatever we ask him to do, he picks it up (right away), goes out and executes at a really high level. He's a super kid that makes your program significantly better."

When Cleland fields short kickoffs as an up man, he typically doesn't look for open space but rather somebody to run into.

"I don't have jukes — I just want to hit," he said.

But Cleland's future, like his older brother Chris, could be in rugby. Chris, a 2021 CB West graduate, won 109 matches as a high school wrestler and qualified for states as a senior 132-pounder, yet is on a partial scholarship to play rugby at Division-I Mount St. Mary's in Maryland.

Matt Cleland has played rugby all over the U.S. for Atlantis, an East Coast-based team, and as far away as Dubai with the Hawkeyes from Canada, California and Idaho. A fly-half, Cleland is typically the first person to receive the ball following a scrum and the initial offensive orchestrator. Among his strengths are his speed, vision and kicking ability.

"It's like the quarterback of the team," said Cleland, who also plays for Doylestown Rugby. He cites kicking, hitting and bringing aggression as common traits between football and rugby.

While nights like Friday on the football field are unforgettable, he's been playing rugby since he was 3 and doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon.

"Oh, yeah. I like football, but I'd say rugby is my No. 1 sport," said a smiling Cleland after Friday's stirring victory that ensures 6-4 West will qualify for the District One Class 6A playoffs.

"I hear he's pretty good (at rugby)," Rowan said.

Cleland is a third-generation CB football player. Grandfather John Tomlinson, who later spent 35 successful seasons as the CB East wrestling coach (1969-2003), starred in football, wrestling and baseball at Central Bucks in the mid-1960s. Father Chris caught a 2-point conversion pass from Greg Moylan with 1:15 left to give CB West an 8-7 win over CB East on the way to West's first onfield state championship in 1991.

Cleland was 7-7 as a CB West wrestler last year as a sophomore but doesn't know if he'll go out this winter because he wants to gain weight for football and rugby, not lose 20 or more pounds to wrestle.

Playing linebacker is his favorite part of football because of the physicality. Cleland and his CB West teammates will get to play at least one more game this fall before he can turn his attention to rugby, which is fine with him.

"He loves rugby, but he's a player (in football)," said West junior quarterback Ganz Cooper. "He's high energy all the time at practice. He makes plays. He'll do anything you ask him to do — he'll run through a brick wall if you ask him to do it."

Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes; @TomMoorePhilly

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Matt Cleland does a lot for CB West in football and is a rugby standout