Wheeling Central's Eli Sancomb dribbles past a defender during the Maroon Knights' Class AA semifinal against Wayne on Friday inside the Charleston Coliseum.

CHICAGO — In its 41st year celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Eli Sancomb of Central Catholic High School is the 2025-26 Gatorade West Virginia Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their excellence in sport, academics and community. The award recognizes Sancomb as West Virginia’s best high school boys basketball player, the second-straight year the Maroon Knight has won the award.

“Obviously it’s a big-time award,” Wheeling Central head coach Mel Stephens said. “If you’re the best player in the state, that says a lot, and it’s well deserved. Eli puts a ton of work in to be where he’s at. For it to be announced while we’re down here [in Charleston], he’s showing people down here why he’s the best player in the state by far.

“Everything he’s done for us, whatever we need really. If we need him to score, he scores. If we need him to rebound, he rebounds. If we need him to pass the ball to people for them to score, that’s what he does. He’s just a winner, he does whatever it takes for us to be successful. He lifts the other guys on our team. He lifts their ability to play the game also.”

With his second trophy in tow, Sancomb joins a very exclusive group of boys basketball players to win multiple Gatorade Player of the Year awards in the Mountain State. Aside from Sancomb, Poca’s Isaac McKneely (2021 and 2022), Huntington Prep’s Jaemyn Brakefield (2018, 2019 and 2020), Wheeling Central’s Chase Harler (2015 and 2016), Huntington Prep’s Andrew Wiggins (2012 and 2013) and Huntington’s Patrick Patterson (2006 and 2007) are the only others to win multiple.

“Those guys— one’s playing at Louisville right now, having a great career, the others, obviously, very good players,” Sancomb said. “You know, it’s pretty cool to be among those names.”

At the time of his selection, the 6-foot-5, 185-pound senior guard had led the Maroon Knights (22-0) to the championship game of the WVSSAC Class AA state tournament. He set tournament records in both of his outings thus far, setting the tournament record for assists with 16 vs. Frankfort, and setting a Class AA tournament record for points in a game with 41 vs. Wayne.

While speaking about the honor, Sancomb was focused on championship Saturday.

“I think I’ll be more excited tomorrow ie get it done,” Sancomb said, speaking on Friday evening. “I’ll probably be way more excited then. It’s cool to just see all the hard work pay off. But, you know, all that’s on my mind right now is to win a state championship tomorrow.”

Sancomb averaged 31.5 points, 12.1 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 3 steals through 20 games. The state’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year, he was named the MVP of the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference tournament for the second straight season as well as earning First Team All-Conference and First Team All-State honors.

Sancomb has volunteered locally helping in multiple capacities after last summer’s flood in Wheeling, including shoveling mud, helping an intake center move, sorting donations and helping an elderly couple clean out their house. He also donated his time shoveling driveways after a January snowstorm, along with his brothers, Luke and Jack.

“That’s just the type of person that he is,” Stephens said. “He wants to help other people, whatever that has to be, whether it’s shoveling snow, whether it’s pushing mud out of people’s driveways, anything that needs done, he’s more than willing to do it. That’s just his upbringing, you know, his family, and that’s just the type of person he is.”

“I think helping others is the most important thing in life,” Sancomb said. “Basketball aside, it’s only a short time in your life that you play basketball. You want to be known as a good person, treating others the right way. That’s big in my family, just helping others when they need help the most. That’s a credit to my parents. I feel like they just raised me the right way and just taught me this how to do things the right way.”

Sancomb has maintained a 3.05 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a written letter of athletic aid to play basketball at Liberty University this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one state winner from each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., in 12 different sports: football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field. In total, 610 high school athletes are honored each year.

From the pool of state winners, one national winner is selected in each of the 12 sports. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the winners in each sport.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $6.4 million in grants to winners across more than 2,200 organizations.