Trevon Honor has become stronger and smarter in his senior season with the Hahnville wrestling team, said Tigers coach Dan Erwin, but the biggest difference for the unbeaten Honor has been his belief in himself.“He believes he’s gonna win it all,” Erwin said. “Last year, thought he had a chance to. This year, he truly believes it.”
He certainly came close to pulling off that feat a year ago, when Honor reached the championship match of the 195 lb. weight class as a junior. He fell to Jesuit grappler Guy Patron Jr., but it created a hunger within Honor that has spurred him to a perfect 20-0 record thus far this season.
He didn’t shy away when asked about his goal of finishing his Tigers career as a state champion.
“I feel like it’s mine,” Honor said. “I feel like the only person that can beat me is myself. If I just go out there and wrestle how I know I can, nobody can beat me.”
Honor said the experience of reaching the final last season boosted his confidence and a strong reason to believe that, a year wiser and better, the state crown will be his.
“Knowing I got there as a junior, it makes me feel that now that I’m a senior, nobody can stop me,” he said. “I just have to stay aggressive and keep wrestling the way I know I can.”
Honor has missed a bit of time this season as he’s healed up from a grueling football season — at linebacker, he was one of the Tigers’ top defensive players in 2016. But earlier this month, he captured the tournament championship in his weight class at the Louisiana Classic tournament at Baton Rouge Community College, besting Dunham’s Mason Rabel 9-4 in the final.
Erwin said his top star is now 100 percent. That spells trouble for the opposition.
“He has a big gas tank,” Erwin said. “He can go 100 percent for 6 minutes and he doesn’t get tired. He has great strength. His knowledge of positioning is another plus. He’s put in the time. Trevon’s the consummate worker. He doesn’t shy away from it.”
The coach believes Honor will be the top seed in the 195 pound weight class at the state championship tournament. Were he to finish the season off with a championship, he would become the fourth Hahnville wrestler to ever do so and the third of which in as many years: Kendrick Jones and Nicholas Lirette captured state championships in 2016 and 2015, respectively, with Jones going back-to-back after his title win in 2014.
Honor took up wrestling in the seventh grade at J.B. Martin Middle School, joining the school’s team along with a number of his friends.
It wasn’t an easy transition, he said.
“I liked it, (but) my first two years weren’t that good,” he said. “But as soon as I got to high school, I just started winning.”
He’s glad he stuck with it. Erwin said Honor is being recruited to wrestle at the collegiate level, and has built on his skills year after year. He added Honor has answered the call of being a leader for what is a very young Tigers’ team alongside him, a task Honor said he takes seriously.
“Every single win that I have, I give them credit too because without them, I wouldn’t be winning,” he said. “If I see them mess something up, technique or anything, I want to help them out.”
Hahnville will participate at this weekend’s St. Paul’s tournament. After that, the team will get ready for the district championship meet on Feb. 4 at Chalmette.
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