Cleave plans to contribute to Peninsula’s stacked senior class on both sides of the ball

Bryce Cleave was one of the best cornerbacks in the South Sound Conference last season, but don’t assume that’s the only place you’ll see him lined up on the field.

With great hands and length, Cleave could fare just as well as a receiver, a position the Peninsula High School senior expects to excel at, given his playmaking ability.

All Cleave needs, he says, is the ball in his hands when it matters most.

“I definitely need to get the ball in my hands,” Cleave said. “I feel like I can do great things. That’s one of the things that’s been holding me back. … Last year, I feel like my film (didn’t) prove me enough compared to where I’m at right now. I just feel way more confident. I honestly feel like I can be a great playmaker… one of the better ones, for sure.”

And the film that Cleave says didn’t prove his worth to a college program last season only makes the next an important one, as seniors everywhere scramble to lock up college commitments and scholarships.

It’s not as urgent of an issue to Leave as it may be to others, as the senior has already received three offers to play collegiate football, primarily to local schools like Pacific Lutheran University and Whitworth.

But a senior season would only open up more doors, and hopefully show bigger schools — perhaps one that appeals to his desire to pursue the medical field — his speed and length, aspects of his game that some schools already admire.

“Out of all the colleges that I’ve talked to, they’ve said that they really admire my length and the speed that I play with,”

Cleave said. “When I’m out at (cornerback), my confidence is so high, because I feel like I can win those one-on-one matchups against smaller receivers. And even with bigger targets, I can make a good matchup out of them.”

It’s a level of confidence that’s noticed by his coaches at Peninsula, too.

“He is very athletic… fast twitch,” Peninsula Head Coach Ross Filkins said. “He also plays with great confidence. … He’s already demonstrated that he can be that corner with length, that can be physical at the line of scrimmage, but also has the speed to not let anything over the top of him.”

Regardless of what side of the ball Cleave plays on, he’ll be accompanied by a stacked group of Seahawk seniors, and alongside standouts such as former SSC-MVP Sean Skladany and the two-way Landon Sims, who needs his senior season to complete a comeback after numerous injuries during his junior campaign.

Cleave says he’s gotten “bigger, stronger, and faster” since the end of last year, one that ended in the Round of 16 at the WIAA State Tournament. Despite the pandemic adding difficulty to how high schools can practice, train, and compete nationwide, Cleave says it’s his friends and teammates who keep him going and have kept the team accountable.

“He has come so far in his time at Peninsula,” Filkins said. “He’s taken advantage of all the resources that we have to offer, and is working hard on his own. He’s a player that has really understood the impact of our strength and conditioning program. He has spent quite a bit of time in our weight room and getting stronger and getting faster … he’s definitely reaping the rewards of that right now. He is crushing our workouts and looking extremely athletic.”

If there was a season for Peninsula to return to the state tournament and expect a deeper push into the state tournament, it’s this one, as Filkins claims this year’s squad could be the best of any that he’s led throughout his some-25 years at Peninsula.

“We have great leadership here in our senior class … and a lot of us are returning starters, especially,” Cleave said. “With that leadership, and the skill that we possess, I think if we just continue to persuade each other to work … we can definitely make it farther.”

But for that to happen, the Seahawks need to actually take the field, which has been pushed farther away into the spring by the WIAA throughout the fall months.

Filkins expects what he says to be clarifications and updated guidance by the Governor’s Office and the Washington State Department of Health on how the WIAA can effectively run the season by January 4, but says the SSC could wind up scheduling their own games, meaning football could start as early as February 22.

“Locally, we have some options,” Filkins said. “We could decide to go ahead and commit to the WIAA seasons as they exist or as they may be modified on January 4. There’s also another option that we could potentially … let the WIAA know that we are not going to follow the seasons, and we’re going to create local seasons. There’s a couple other leagues that have already gone down that path and the South Sound Conference is considering it.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.