After a stellar performance against Division III power University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, which included 22 of 33 passes completed for 309 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-7 victory, Milano native Kyle King says it still doesn’t seem real that he and his University of Mary Hardin-Baylor teammates are headed to the Stagg Bowl. The game, which is in Canton, Ohio, is where his team will compete on national television for a Division III title.
“It hasn’t really set in to be honest,” King said Monday. “Just because we expected to win that game.
“Going into Whitewater, we knew it would be tough but we expected that and we expected to be where we are now. Obviously, there’s joy and being one of the top two teams in the nation is nothing to hang your head about. But we’re not going to the national championship, we’re going to win the national championship.”
2018—Before graduation from Milano High School in 2018, King was set to play football at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. Although UMHB was his dream school, they wanted him to play H-Back. Which was why he ended up at HPU, because they recruited him to play quarterback.
However, that changed when the coaching staff wanted King on the field immediately and asked him to play linebacker.
Leading up to his first semester, King went four months of never touching a football during workouts to help prepare for his future on the other side of the ball. But when move-in day came, the offensive coordinator asked him to switch to QB and when practice began later that evening, he was already behind.
King stayed in Brownwood for the rest of the 2018-19 school year where he was an all-conference punter but transferred to UMHB, the place that was always in the back of his mind for his sophomore season.
In Belton, he found himself at a storied program that had played in the national championship game four times since 2011. But when he first got there, he had to start from the bottom. In his first year for the purple-and-gold, he played for their junior varsity team.
With no season in the fall of 2020, it was this past spring was when everything started to fall into place for King.
The former Eagle didn’t waste any snaps during a sixgame season, earning the starting spot with 794 total yards and 12 touchdowns in addition to a six-TD performance against Louisiana College.
More than eight months later, King has helped lead UMHB to an undefeated record with 2,589 yards and 43 touchdowns in 11 games played.
“It’s just been such a journey with the ups and the downs.” King said. “And I think it makes where I am now much more special.”
TITLE—The Cru now faces a top-ranked North Central University out of Illinois, an undefeated team that King described as a juggernaut with strong defensive and offensive lines.
“I think it’s going to come down to turnovers,” King said. “I also have to be good about making sure our play-makers catch the ball and get to use their speed.”
MILANO—Coming from a Class 2A school, King said he had to earn his stripes when he first got to UMHB.
“I wasn’t always respected right away since (smaller schools) are looked down on because there aren’t any athletes, which is a huge misconception because there are athletes,” King said. “Just not as many in terms of numbers.
“But looking back on that, it really is a cool deal coming from Milano.”
He also mentioned MHS Class of 2014 grad Jordan Millar, saying that his being a part of the 2018 Cru national champion team helped him getting to where he is now.
“I think he kind of paved the way for me being at a program like UMHB and winning the national championship.” King said. “I used to look up to him and kind of being in his shoes is unreal for me.”
The Cru take on North Central Friday at Canton’s Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium at 7 p.m. For fans wanting to watch the game, coverage will begin at 6 p.m., on ESPN.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.