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Playing game helps ease pain of Skyview football players after death of teammate William Sloan

Junior lineman died suddenly in his sleep three nights before Storm's game against Richland

By Tim Martinez, Columbian Assistant Sports Editor
Published: October 12, 2024, 10:26pm
7 Photos
Riah Tua leads the Skyview football team in a post-game prayer after the Storm beat Richland 21-14 in a non-league football game at Kiggins Bowl on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.
Riah Tua leads the Skyview football team in a post-game prayer after the Storm beat Richland 21-14 in a non-league football game at Kiggins Bowl on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (Tim Martinez/The Columbian) Photo Gallery

The Skyview High School football team won its game Saturday at Kiggins Bowl, but the result really didn’t matter.

The Storm’s 21-14 win over Richland was part of the healing process for the Skyview players still trying to make sense of the death of one of their teammates, William Sloan. Sloan, a junior lineman who was known as Liam, unexpectedly died in his sleep three nights earlier.

“Gosh, it was really hard,” Skyview senior Riah Tua said of playing Saturday. “It was very hard. The (win) doesn’t make it easier. But I just want him to know that he’s out there (with us). I hope he is proud of us. That’s all we wanted.”

Saturday’s event began with members of Sloan’s family, along with friends, forming two lines that Skyview players ran through before taking the field.

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. Banners and other mementos lined 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 one wanted to be at practice, he gave 100 percent effort no matter what,” said Tua, who played alongside Sloan on Skyview’s offensive line. “What 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 has coached at Skyview for more than 20 years. “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.”

21 Photos
Bill Sloan, the father of William "Liam" Sloan holds his son's No. 70 jersey as the Sloan family joins Skyview players for the pre-game coin toss before a game against Richland at Kiggins Bowl on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. Liam Sloan died suddenly in his sleep earlier this week.
Skyview Richland football Photo Gallery

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 16-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.”

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