PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — Parkersburg South returned a strong core from last season’s 15-win team that qualified for the Class AAAA state tournament.
At the forefront of the group was Harry Silvis, a first-team all-state selection as a junior.
Early indications from the 2025-26 campaign suggest Silvis has his sights set on repeating that honor and adding his name to the mix for more as the 6-foot-4 senior has 113 points over his team’s first four games and has helped guide the Patriots to an unbeaten start.
Back on December 16, Silvis delivered a 44-point performance on 14 for 25 shooting with five three-pointers to guide his team to an 81-69 victory over Capital in an up-and-down affair.
He’s also had 26 points in a win over Linsey, 28 with six triples in a victory against Spring Valley and most recently 15 points with five assists in a runaway win over Huntington Expression Prep.
“Last year, when I would try and drive, I wasn’t necessarily as strong, so I would get bumped off my line and lose the ball a lot easier,” Silvis said. “But this year, I’ve gotten a lot stronger and stronger with the ball, so when I get in the paint, I have more options. I’m not necessarily unstable or off-balance.”
That aggressiveness helped pay off in the form of 16 free-throw attempts against the Cougars, 11 of which Silvis converted on.
The ability to play off the dribble and score in a variety of ways is something Silvis has displayed early into his final go-around at the prep level, and his average of 28.2 points is an instrumental reason Parkersburg South (4-0) is unbeaten and averaging 90.2 points, with the Patriots having scored 100 twice and at least 80 in all four contests.
“He’s one of those guys that can put points on the board in different ways and he’s not just a shooter,” Patriots’ head coach Mike Fallon said. “We can play him inside. We threw it to him some in the post. He’s hitting short, pull-up jump shots and handling the ball so much better. His growth this year reminds me of Ashton Mooney from his junior year to his senior year [2021-2022] and how he kind of expanded his game. That’s kind of what Harry’s done.”
The Patriots are next in action Tuesday against North Marion in what marks their first of two games at the Winter Classic in Summersville. A New Year’s Eve matchup with Boyd County (Ky.) follows, before contests at Huntington and Morgantown over the first eight days of January.
“No game is going to be easy trying to get to Charleston. It’s going to keep getting harder,” Silvis said. “The more pressure and challenging games that we have really helps us improve, especially some of our younger guys that are sophomores. If we can keep our heads straight and learn from that instead of beat ourselves up, it can help us a lot in the long run.”
Ultimately, however, Parkersburg South’s success will largely be determined off its group of eight seniors, a list that includes Silvis and fellow starters Taj Joyce, Matthew Mullen and Bowen Rader along with key reserve Cam Fallon.
“We’ll practice for about 2 hours Saturday, and Harry pulls our assistant coach Zac Grossenbacher to the side and says, ‘can you work me out for another hour and a half or 2 hours? He stays and works individually, he and Taj both,” coach Fallon said. “When your best players do that, it sets a tone. Our team has great camaraderie. Our young kids play hard and we can fill them in roles. We have seniors that can fill roles. We still have a long way to go, but I think come March, I think we can be pretty scary.”