Schuckman: Game-used football celebrates faith and family as much as it does King’s first TD

WARRENSBURG, Mo. — Weston King wasn’t giving up the football, even if it was the referee who asked it.

Last Saturday, with the University of Central Missouri football team trailing Washburn 28-24 at the start of the fourth quarter, King found himself in a surprising position. The senior defensive tackle and team co-captain lined up in the offensive backfield as the Mules faced first and goal from the 1-yard line.

This was the play designed to get the 6-foot-2, 300-pound King in the end zone.

“We hadn’t practiced it in a while,” said King, the Palmyra product who said the play was in the playbook for Weeks 1 and 2 of the regular season but hadn’t been mentioned since. “So I asked, ‘Who do I run behind? They said to run behind the guard.”

So he did. He found left guard Wyatt Tate, found where the hole needed to be and found a spot in the end zone.

“I ran right to that spot,” King said.

He landed in the end zone, having scored a 1-yard, go-ahead, game-winning touchdown with 14:56 remaining before scrambling to his feet to celebrate with the Mules’ offensive linemen. That’s when the referee asked for the ball for the extra point.

“I was like, ‘No, I need this ball,’” King said. “I tell him, ‘I can’t give it to you.’ He was like, ‘Oh,’ and didn’t really react. So I turned and ran off to the sideline.”

And then into the stands. King scaled the wall behind the Mules’ bench and met his mom, Andrea King, about halfway up the stairs in order to present her with the game ball.

“I hugged her and she was crying,” King said. “It was awesome. It was a cool experience.”

There was only one problem. Andrea King couldn’t keep the ball, at least not initially.

Each team is allowed to use six measured and sanctioned game balls, and those balls are brought to and from the field by game officials. So a member of the UCM operations staff retrieved the ball from the Kings, marked it and put it back in the bag on the sideline to avoid a penalty.

“I was able to give it back to her after the game,” King said. “She’s got it. She’s got it at home. I’m sure it’s up on the shelf.”

Thinking of what that ball signifies gives King pause.

His mom continues her battle to beat colon cancer, having undergone extensive treatment in Dallas throughout the first half of 2024 and is still undergoing chemotherapy to ensure the final remnants of cancer have been erased. Meanwhile, his father, Craig, is awaiting a heart transplant and refuses to sit idly by until a donor match is available.

So the King family will make the trip this weekend to Pittsburg, Kan., to watch the Mules face No. 1-ranked Pittsburg State. With three regular-season games remaining and a 5-3 record, the Mules understand the importance of every victory.

“It’s the way college football has been this year across the board,” King said. “Hectic, crazy. Figuring out how to bond with the guys in the locker room and getting that stuff together is really what will help you win games down the stretch. We’re not in the position we want to be right now, but we still have the opportunity to accomplish what we want to do if we take care of business.

“There is a way, but the only way that can happen is if we take care of what we can control. Everything else, we have to leave that up to God.”

King’s trust and faith is as strong as ever.

Seeing his parents at every game despite the physical and medical challenges they’ve experienced is a reminder anything can be overcome, and sharing the moment of scoring his first career touchdown with them is forever priceless.

“Everybody on the team, from my teammates to the coaches to the support staff, got behind me and allowed me the opportunity to do this for my parents,” King said. “And the toughness of my parents is incredible with everything they’ve been through.

“It’s what made this one of the coolest things I’ve ever been able to do in football. Not just scoring the touchdown, but being able to do that with my family there. It was awesome. It was something I know I’ll never forget.”

The fact it was unscripted and unplanned makes it more memorable.

The Mules huddled at the end of the third quarter before taking the field for the play that became the go-ahead touchdown. When the huddle broke, King went to the sideline like the all the defenders did, until he heard someone yelling his name.

“I was like, ‘What’s going on?’” King said. “I go over there and they were like, ‘We’re running it. We’re running it.’ And I’m like, ‘Really? Now?’”

There was no better time than right now to run a play that created a moment that put faith, family and football in proper perspective.