Then members of Sloan’s family joined Tua and the other Skyview captains for the opening kickoff, before a moment of silence was observed.
Bill Sloan, Liam’s father, said he was understandably hesitant about coming to a game from which his son would be so noticeably absent.
“I didn’t know how I was going to feel or how I was going to react,” Bill Sloan said. “But everybody’s just been absolutely fantastic. The (Skyview) family has been great supporting us. They had a candlelight vigil last night at the school. And these great things that you thought about your son that you thought was a secret that only you knew. And then you see this whole gym full, and everybody knew that he was a great kid. I’m just so grateful to be blessed having a son like Liam.”
Fans at Kiggins Bowl wore T-shirts to remember Liam. There were banners and other mementos on both sides of the field.
After taking the opening kickoff, Skyview held off from snapping the ball on the first play of the game, drawing a delay-of-game penalty.
Richland declined the penalty, and then players from both teams embraced.
That was all for Liam.
“Sloanie was a guy, no matter what he feels like, if it’s rainy or no wanted to be a practice, he gave 100 percent effort no matter what,” said Tua, who played alongside Sloan on Skyview’s offensive line. “But we loved about Sloanie wasn’t that he put 100 percent on the field, it was what he put in outside of the field.
“You know, when you get a Sloanie hug, it’s a 100-percent hug. You feel all the love. When you’re in a class and he says hi to you, you feel all the love. Like you know, that’s just all the love. That’s just the Sloanie way right there. You know, doing everything 100 percent and that includes loving people.”
Skyview coach Steve Kizer called Sloan a coach’s dream.
“He was as great a kid that has ever walked through those doors,” said Kizer, who is in his 21st season as head coach at Skyview. “He’s everybody’s friend. He just had a great work ethic. I never saw him with a frown on his face. Never complained. … We can learn something from Sloanie. I’m learning.”
Liam Sloan was the youngest of Bill Sloan’s three kids, and the smallest.
“I used to worry about him,” Bill Sloan said. “But the one thing I didn’t realize about him until he got into high school was his heart was so big. He never quit. He never stopped. The coaches would just tell me he was always the first to the weight room. He was the first to be happy, the first to congratulate somebody. He was just a coach’s dream.
“He was the greatest kid. He was easy. He would do anything we asked him to do. Liam and I were best friends, and he was just an incredible boy. He was kind. He was gentle. He had so many friends. He was just a genuine person. I think him being a genuine person is the most important thing about him.”
Tua said being together with his teammates on the football field Saturday helped ease the pain.
“Everything that brought us together, if you think about it, is football,” Tua said. “You know, the practices, the amount of hours that we spent.
“But you know, it’s not really football that brings us together. It’s the fact that we’re all together. We get to be a family, and Sloanie was family. And we focused on the Sloanie way. That’s all it is. This win and anything good that comes from it was the Sloanie way. That’s it.”
Kizer said he hadn’t slept much since learning of Liam’s passing.
“It’s tough, a 17-year-old kid,” Kizer said “But it’s like I told the guys — God wanted him, took him out early in the first round. And He got a great one.”
