Playing basketball at Midland Trail since the inception of the four-class system has been an uphill battle for the Patriots.
Competing as a Class A school in all other sports, Trail played as a triple-A school in boys and girls basketball.
That did not deter Eli Campbell from becoming one of the best players in the Mountain State.
Now Campbell has received one of the top honors afforded players across West Virginia.
The Midland Trail senior has been selected as a member of the C.Adam Toney Tires Class AAA-AA All-Stars playing in the annual Little General Stores Scott Brown Classic at Shady Spring High School.
Campbell and his teammates will battle the Mid-State Automotive Class AAAA-A All-Stars at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The girls game will start at 2 p.m. and will pit the Chick-Fil-A AAAA-A All-Stars against the Jan Care Ambulance AAA-AA All-Stars at 2 p.m.
There will be a three-point contest prior to the girls game, along with a dunk contest and 3-point shootout prior to the boys game.
“It is a great feeling and a game that I have heard about for a good while,” Campbell said. “I know a lot of good players have played in it. It is an honor and a blessing to be invited to it. I really never dreamed I would be playing in a game like that.”
The basketball journey kicked into high gear for Campbell at a young age.
“I played basketball my whole life, but I didn’t really take it serious until maybe sixth grade,” Campbell said. “I went to sixth grade with (senior teammate) Bryar (Bailes) at New Life Christian Academy in Summersville. It made me find my love for the game.”
Bailes also related finding his love for basketball back in the days playing alongside Campbell.
“We all just got really close and basketball was what we all spent the most time doing,” Campbell said.
The two teammates went their separate ways later with Bailes playing for Nicholas County and Campbell heading to Hico to play for Trail.
The two friends reunited this year as part of the 2023-24 Patriot squad. With the team clicking on all cylinders through four games, Bailes went down with an unfortunate knee injury that limited his time on the hardwood.
“Injuries hit us pretty hard this year,” Campbell said. “That was a huge hit to the team when Bryar went down. Somebody had to fill that spot and still have the team working together like we did.”
Across his senior season, Campbell averaged nearly 17 points, four rebounds and four assists to help lead the Patriots to a 20-3 record in the regular season.
Campbell also tied the school record for most 3-pointers in a game this season with nine-for-nine night, matching Dillon Harper and Nate Hanshew.
“Eli was awesome for us this year. When Bryar went down, Eli had to step his game up too,” Midland Trail head coach Curtis Miller said. “Eli was our leading scorer night in and night out.”
Campbell was not only a scorer, he was a nemesis for opposing players attacking the basket.
“Eli is also one of the top players in the state in charges taken. He does it on both ends,” Miller said. “We haven’t come to the end of a game where he is not gassed. He is going to give it his all and we looked to him to make shots and lead us.”
Campbell had some extra motivation to take charges back in the early days as well.
“I got introduced to taking charges in the sixth grade. My coach told us if we ever took a charge in a game that we could skip out on a sprint the next practice,” Campbell said, laughing. “That is where it started, but I realized it was something I was good at and it became a habit.”
Prior to being named to the Little General Stores Scott Brown Classic, Campbell also earned Class AAA second team all-state honors from the West Virginia Sportswriters Association.
“It was the same thing. Just an honor and a blessing,” Campbell said. “I stayed up until after midnight just waiting for that to come out because I was so excited for it.”
Now Campbell will be playing alongside several of the all-staters Saturday.
“I have seen almost all of them at basketball camps and played against some of them,” Campbell said. “It will be fun having some of the best players in the state on your team.”
While Saturday may be the final high school basketball game for Campbell, it will not be his final time on the hardwood.
His stellar career had afforded him an opportunity to play at the next level for WVU Tech.
“That kind of came out of nowhere. I have always went to the camps and talked to the coaches and communicated,” Campbell said. “It just blew my mind. They invited me over for a visit and they offered me a spot on the team. Definitely one of the highlights of my career.”