Roughly two hours north of Philadelphia and 40 minutes southwest of Wilkes-Barre lies the blue-collar borough of Berwick, Pennsylvania.
A former titan of the 19th-century manufacturing industry, Berwick housed the Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company, a then-soon-to-be-subsidiary of the American Car and Foundry Company.
In the over two-and-a-half centuries since its original settling, Berwick has also become home to one of Pennsylvania’s premier high school football programs.
The Berwick Area Bulldogs, under the late George Curry, won six state championships in the 1980s and 90s. They have produced names like Ron Powlus, Bo Orlando, Paul Stenn, and Blane Cleaver.
Blane Cleaver, who graduated from Berwick Area in 2021, excelled in football, basketball, and baseball as a Dawg.
On the gridiron, he split snaps between quarterback, tight end, and linebacker.
He was raised in a household that prioritized education. His mother is a teacher in the Berwick Area school district, while his father has spent time as a superintendent in neighboring districts.
“He was always someone who was willing to help around,” Blane Cleaver’s father, JJ, said. “He’s always been a dedicated hard worker. Anybody you talk to around the area always said how polite he was.”
Blane Cleaver excelled as a linebacker for the Bulldogs, earning offers from a long list of schools and catching the eye of a former Berwick Area standout.
His first offer came from the U.S. Military Academy, where he was primarily recruited by Mike Viti, who played fullback and linebacker at Berwick Area under Blane Cleaver’s dad in the early 2000s.
“West Point was a very unique thing. It was my first offer in high school,” Blane Cleaver said. “It kind of resonated with me to see that that was the first program to see potential in me and believe in my abilities on and off the field.”
Viti, who starred at Army in the early-mid 2000s at fullback, has been on Army’s staff since 2015, working his way up to his current role of assistant head coach and offensive line coach.
Between his ties to Berwick, his personal connection with the Cleaver family and Blane Cleaver’s interest in the military dating back to his youth, it was the perfect storm to convince him to head to West Point.
“It goes all the way back to being from the same hometown. I knew Blane’s father as I was growing up, and I remember watching him as a player when I was younger.” Viti said. “[It] Just came to be about that I recruit that area. Blane was an exceptional player. We always knew each other, but then that formalized the relationship a lot more.”
The connection not only made it easier for Blane Cleaver to consider the move to West Point, but it also made it a lot easier for his parents to stomach as well.
“I think that eased our nervousness a little bit, too,” JJ Cleaver said. “He’s always had that connection with Coach Viti out there. So, it did help a little bit as far as when he told us that’s where he planned on going.”
With Blane Cleaver’s mind made up and his paperwork signed, the Cleaver family packed the car and made the two-and-a-half-hour drive on I-84 eastbound to West Point, New York.
The Cleavers left as quickly as they arrived. Granted, the drop-off process was altered due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We literally dropped him off in the middle of the parking lot,” JJ Cleaver said. “We gave him a hug and a kiss, he had his bag, and we drove out. I mean, that was literally how we dropped him off at school.”
Blane Cleaver made his mark at Berwick Area as a middle linebacker. However, following a conversation with then-Army tight ends coach Matt Drinkall, Blane Cleaver made the switch from linebacker to tight end.
“[Drinkall] was the first person to tell me that I was switching from linebacker to tight end, and he taught me a lot of the stuff that I still use today,” he said.
Blane Cleaver juggled the responsibilities of being a student, an athlete, and a newfound challenge of being a cadet while at West Point.
“From the first day you get there, you start basic training for the first four to six weeks,” he said. “It’s the true basic training experience. You get handed your equipment, people yell in your face, and tell you to get on the line. You learn to salute. You learn that life is bigger than just yourself.”
Similar to their training, the Army Black Knights are known for their smashmouth style of play; they’re going to run the ball, run the ball again, and then run the ball some more.
The hard-nosed brand of football was perfect for the kid from Berwick.
“It was a pretty smooth transition. At a school like that, it really is just whoever the most physical person on the line of scrimmage is going to win the battle,” Blane Cleaver said. “Falling back onto my earlier years in high school, I feel like it definitely prepared me to be successful in that area.”
After two years and nine games played, Blane Cleaver, now classified as a veteran, decided to seek greener pastures.
Just as over 3,300 other college football players did in 2024, he jumped in the transfer portal.
“It wasn’t an easy decision. The rigors of West Point are tough, and I just thought that maybe there are better opportunities for me, not only in the football realm of things, but also in life, community, atmosphere,” Blane Cleaver said. “I think I’m a pretty impactful person not just on the field, but also in the classroom, in the community…I felt sometimes that at the academy, it was hard to express that because you’re surrounded by so many leaders. It’s the premier leadership academy in the world.”
After entering the portal, Blane Cleaver took a couple of visits to other schools before falling in love with Bowling Green.
“From the moment I stepped on the campus at BG, there was something about it. I credit coach Alex Bayer, he was the one who helped me through the process,” Blane Cleaver said. “When I came out here, it felt like home. I’m just stepping onto the campus and knowing, ‘Yeah, I can see myself making an impact here.”
His parents felt the same way.
“The first thing is like, ‘How does this thing work?” JJ Cleaver said. “His coaches at West Point were nothing but supportive throughout that process too, actually reaching out to other coaches, making connections to coaches that they knew at different schools. Ultimately, when we went out to BG, it was just a different feel.”
After officially committing to Bowling Green on May 10, 2024, Blane Cleaver saw action in 12 of Bowling Green’s 13 games, earning his first career start in the Falcons’ 27-6 win over Kent State on Oct. 19.
With the departures of Harold Fannin Jr., who was recently drafted 67th overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 2025 NFL Draft, and Levi Gazarek, who is now a graduate assistant with the team, and a second season in Scot Loeffler’s tight end-friendly offense, the stars were aligning for Blane Cleaver to make the biggest impact of his career as a full-time starter.
Then, the unfathomable struck Bowling Green.
On the morning of Feb. 28, the Bowling Green Football X account posted the link to a press release announcing the departure of Loeffler, headed back to the NFL to serve as the quarterbacks coach for the reigning Super Bowl champions (and Blane Cleaver’s favorite NFL team) Philadelphia Eagles.
The loss of Loeffler opened a 30-day portal window for all BGSU football players, granting Blane Cleaver the opportunity to find a new home after the loss of his head coach.
“You’ve got coaches following you because of the rule of you can enter the portal and do all of this, so it was pretty chaotic just to see the type of people that reach out or even just hit you with a follow,” he said. “That was pretty overwhelming and it made you feel wanted by other programs. As a young man, to have a coaching staff to reach out to is enough to make you a little interested to see where things could go with that.”
Despite the opportunity and the interest from other coaches and schools, he decided to stick it out with the Falcons.
“I think the things that attracted me to BG from the beginning and why it brought me here are still the reasons why I’m here today,” he said. “The relationship that I’ve made at this school with my teammates, coaches, to the other students and faculty is really the reason why I stayed here because it feels like a family from all around campus.”
A little over a week after Loeffler announced his departure, his replacement was found in Tennessee State’s Eddie George.
“I saw that Tweet, it got sent to me by my dad, who’s a die-hard Cowboys fan, my dad said to me, ‘This would be an unbelievable and awesome opportunity for your program,” Blane Cleaver said.
During spring practice, in a video released on April 1 on BG Football’s social media, around the one-minute, 57-second mark, a snippet of a conversation between George and Blane Cleaver on the sidelines of the Perry Field House is caught.
“We’re at practice early in spring ball. I made a really nice play, I think I had a nice block, and it was one of those blocks where you hear it. ”
George, accompanied by tight ends coach Dewayne Alexander, pulls something off his wrist, gives it to Blane Cleaver, and tells him, “You’ve got to be a dude to have this.”
The object gifted to Blane Cleaver by George is a green wristband with the letters FILO written on it.
It’s an acronym that stands for ‘First in, last out,’ followed by George reiterating that “It’s a dude,” and George sending Blane Cleaver off with a smack on the helmet.
“It was early in our relationship,” Blane Cleaver said. “And I was like, ‘I appreciate you, Coach,’ trying to get talking, and he’s like, ‘Man, I think you’re gonna be my guy. You can do a lot of things for this team, not only from a player standpoint, but as a leader on and off the field.”
It was just a 26-second interaction, yet it was 26 seconds that meant so much to Blane Cleaver, his family and even folks back in Berwick, many of whom flooded JJ Cleaver with thoughts on said video.
“Knowing Eddie and what he did in college and the league, when he says something to your son that ‘You’re a dude,’ it’s kind of like, ‘Wow,” JJ Cleaver said. “I said, ‘He called you a dude. But with that, that’s a lot of responsibility and a lot of expectation that they have. Now it’s time to prove it.”
While his ability as a leader and role model has shown in Northwest Ohio on the field, he continues to set an example at home, especially with his younger brothers.
“I think the biggest thing, a lot of people don’t realize it, but he’s just a great big brother. Our twin boys are in the eighth grade,” JJ Cleaver said. “They look up to him and everything else, too. He takes care of them like you wouldn’t believe. He plays “Fortnite” with them at night with his buddies at college, and stuff like that. They’re playing “Fortnite” with these big-time college players, they think they’re King You-know-what.”
Whenever he can make it back home, whether that be over a break or just because, instead of spending most of his time with his friends from high school, Blane Cleaver takes his brothers out, whether that be to the movies or out fishing.
“They see it, and they idolize him. We were just up here for the last spring practice and had a chance to be around some of the players and the parents, and you could just see when they’re around Blane,” JJ Cleaver continued. “The way the players up there respond to him, and the parents. He’s their idol.”
With the 2024-25 school year in the rearview, the public eye shifts to what lies ahead in Eddie George’s maiden voyage as the captain of S.S. Bowling Green, especially with the tight end room facing loads of uncertainty.
With the production of Fannin and the leadership of Gazarek gone, there’s so much up for grabs amongst Bowling Green’s tight ends.
Yet, it doesn’t feel like there’s truly a fight for the reps, despite the additions of Arlis Boardingham from the University of Florida and Jyrin Johnson from Texas Southern.
“I’ve gotten to know Jyrin and Arlis extremely well over these past couple weeks since they’ve come into the program, and been able to see them not only just as players, but as friends and brothers,” Blane Cleaver said. “Something we pride ourselves on is tight end one is the tight end room. It doesn’t matter who’s out there, who’s playing for this rep or this snap, we’re all going to make our impact.”
Blane Cleaver and the Falcons open up the 2025 season on Aug. 28 against the Lafayette Leopards.
They’ll welcome his former mentor, Matt Drinkall, and his new-look Central Michigan Chippewas to the Doyt on Oct. 18.
