Robert Cleveland turns Willingboro into football contender

Patience has paid off for Robert Cleveland and the Willingboro football team.

Cleveland, a senior running back, has learned to take his time behind the Chimeras offensive line - not an easy chore for the high-energy athlete.

"Sometimes I get too excited and lose my mind," Cleveland said of his occasionally frenetic running style. "But I've learned to be more patient."

That's true for Cleveland's career, as well. He is 5-foot-6 and 165 pounds, which seems kind of small for an athlete who has carried the football nearly 200 times this season.

But he is a lot sturdier than he was as a junior, when he stood 5-5 and weighed about 135.

"My dad [also Robert Cleveland] always believed in me and told me that my time would come," Cleveland said.

Cleveland has made a major impact this season for Willingboro, which has emerged as a dark-horse contender in the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs.

Playing a difficult schedule, the Chimeras opened 0-2 and were 1-3 after four games. But they have won four in a row to seize the No. 3 seed in the playoff field.

Willingboro (5-3) will open tournament play Friday night against sixth-seeded Middle Township (5-3).

"We started slow," Cleveland said. "We had to get things together and play together more as a family."

Willingboro's first two losses were to Burlington Township and Delran, teams that have a combined 15-1 record. The Chimeras also lost to Northern Burlington (4-4), a South Jersey Group 3 playoff team, in Week 4.

But Willingboro coach Reggie Lawrence sees a big difference in his squad over the last month.

"We're starting to play pretty good football," Lawrence said.

Along with senior all-purpose player Anthony Robbins, Cleveland has sparked the Chimeras' late-season surge.

Cleveland leads the Chimeras with 1,218 yards on 197 carries. In a must-win game Saturday for playoff purposes, Cleveland rushed 22 times for 162 yards and three touchdowns in a 26-8 victory over Lawrence (4-4), a Central Jersey Group 3 team.

"He's a good runner for our system," Lawrence said. "He runs hard inside, finding those little cracks. He's learned to be a patient runner, waiting for his blockers and taking what's there.

"He's willing to take the one or two yards if that's what's there."