For the past two years, senior linebacker Gabe Taylor was the leading tackler for the Hahnville High School football team.
This year, after ending his final high school season with more than 100 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, a number of sacks, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and an interception, his performance on the field earned him the All-District Defensive Most Valuable Player award.
Hahnville Head Coach Lou Valdin said Taylor was a force on the field.
“He was our best all around player on defense from a coverage standpoint, from a pass rush standpoint and from stopping the run,” he said.
Valdin said Taylor always put himself in a position to make plays.
“He is a very instinctive player and one of our most physical players. The thing is he just makes plays. He causes fumbles and recovers fumbles,” Valdin said. “He’s not the biggest guy and he’s not the fastest guy, but he is always around the ball, he goes 100 miles per hour and he makes plays.”
Taylor said he felt like this year he built off of his performance from 2011.
“I just wanted to go off my senior year the best I could. I worked out a lot. I tried to stay in the best possible shape,” Taylor said. “Last year I did good towards the end of the year and just got better and better every game.”
While Taylor has not received any scholarship offers yet, he is anticipating that some of the smaller area schools may be interested in giving him a chance at the next level.
As far as his reaction to winning the MVP award, he has kept a low-key demeanor.
“I guess it feels good knowing I was the best defensive player out of all of them,” Taylor said.
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