Katella High Football Players Mourn Teammate’s Death : Memorial: They commemorate Jeremy Dean Sullivan--who died over the weekend in a hiking accident--at their end-of-the-season banquet.

The Katella High School football banquet Monday night was more then just a gathering of players to honor the accomplishments of the past season. It was a night to commemorate and mourn the recent death of one of their own.

Jeremy Dean Sullivan, 16, died over the weekend in a hiking accident in the Angeles National Forest.

“The kids are devastated,” said Coach Larry Anderson before the banquet. “They’re down about as low as a kid can be. They’re just beginning to realize that they are not going to see their friend anymore. It’s a tremendous loss.”

Anderson, who closed the banquet to the media, said an award was being renamed in Sullivan’s honor to the top senior-student athlete of the season. The award was to be presented by Sullivan’s father, Arthur Sullivan, Anderson said. Jeremy’s No. 8 football jersey will be retired, and players next year will wear that number on their helmets in memory of him.

Jeremy’s body was found Saturday at the base of a 40-foot incline in the mountains, 17 hours after he had wandered away from classmates during a weekend camping trip.

A spokeswoman with the Los Angeles coroner’s office said that an autopsy was conducted Monday but that further tests were needed to determine the exact cause of death. Preliminary indications, however, were that Jeremy fell from the cliff and died on impact, Arthur Sullivan said Monday.

Sullivan said he had spoken to the other boys who were on the camping trip to try to determine exactly what happened. According to the boys’ account, Sullivan said, Jeremy apparently left the campsite looking for a restroom. When he did not return, the boys started searching for him and after several hours called the Sheriff’s Department for help.

A sheriff’s spokeswoman said that the death appeared to be a hiking accident and that there was no evidence of foul play. Sullivan added that the boys on the trip assured him that his son was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

“His two best friends said that Jeremy had never taken a drink of alcohol,” Sullivan said. “He wasn’t into that type of thing.”

School officials said many students at Katella High School were shocked by the death of Jeremy, whom they described as a popular, straight-A student. Counselors were on campus Monday to help some students cope.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Sunkist Avenue Baptist Church in Anaheim. A graveside service will follow at 1 p.m. at Pacific View Memorial Park in Newport Beach.