Fazio kin is Lacrosse All-State

From left: Rhyan, Renzy, Wayne Cochran

Rhyan Cochran, great-granddaughter of Renzy Fazio and Frances Olesky Fazio, both Class of 1937, and daughter of Fairmont West assistant coach Wayne Cochran, was named to the first team All-State high school lacrosse.

Rhyan is attacker for Fairmont West, which also had Reina Edwards, who had the most goals in West Virginia lacrosse this season at 89, and is a LaCrosse All-American; Megan Rumney, as a midfielder; and Gianna Hrapchak, as a defender.

Sydney Michalski, daughter of Marion County Parks and Recreation Comission executive director Tony Michalski and Holly Turkett Michalski and granddaughter of Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, and the late Frank Michalski, Class of 194, was on the Fairmont West lacrosse team in 2016 and made All-State second team.

That was the year that Rhyan’s sister, Renzy Cochran, was named Most Valuable Player on the West Virginia All-State Girls Lacrosse team. In 2016, Reina was All-State first team.

Renzy and Frances’ children are Irene Fazio Preolitti, Class of 1966, Ann Marie Cochran’s mother, who lives in Traction Park, Monongah, with husband Mike Preolitti, Class of 1962; Mary Chris Fazio Ramsey, Class of 1969, married to Tom Ramsey and living on Pike Street in Monongah in the home once owned by Helen and Steve Kerekes, sister of Frances Fazio and John W. Olesky, Sr.; Steve Fazio, Class of 1975, whose wife, Nancy, is deceased; and David Fazio, Class of 1968, married to 1973 Farmington grad Cora, operator of Fazio's Eldercare in Stoney Lonesome.

 

Renzy Fazio had 12 siblings: John Fazio, the lanky pitcher for Monongah High School who passed away in 2006, survived by widow Dolores Stancheck; Jeanette Fazio DiBiase, who died in 2003; Albert Fazio of New York; Mary Virginia Fazio Pasquale, who died in 2006, and husband Joseph of Fairmont; the late Nick, James, Joseph and Michael; and the Fazio sisters Edith DeCarlo, Elizabeth Domico, Angline Prozzillo and Carmella DePond.

 

The late John Fazio’s son, also John Fazio, is a Marietta, Ohio College professor.

North Marion girls 4^th, boys 8^th in state rankings

North Marion girls rank 4^th in the state in basketball. NMH boys rank 8^th .

Morgantown University is #1 in AAA boys, Fairmont West #1 in AA boys and Wheeling Central #1 in A boys.

#1 among the girls is Huntington Central in AAA, Bluefield in AA and Summers County in A.

Polar Bears survive #1 Bridgeport

Fairmont West defeated #1 Bridgeport 22-21 in double overtime in the state Class AA semifinals. The Polar Bears will be play the winner of Saturday’s game between #2 Mingo Central (Williamson) and #6 James Monroe for the state title.

#1 Martinsburg trounced Morgantown, 51-0 and will play Saturday’s winner of the #2 Spring Valley-Capital game.

Inspiring tale of two Huskies teams

North Marion High will be in the West Virginia football playoffs for the first time since 2002.

The Huskies, who draw from the former Monongah High boundaries, are seeded #14 and will visit #3 seed Point Pleasant at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

There’s another remarkable tale of Huskies, too, when #12 Clendenin Herbert Hoover plays #5 Fairmont West in East-West Stadium, also at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Hoover High was destroyed by June floods, with water as high as 10 feet in the building, and condemned. The 775 students attend classes in portable modular trailers.

The players bus 15 miles to a soccer complex for practice and commute to a YMCA in Charleston for weightlifting. Their equipment was lost in the flood so Monongah High grad Nick "Brother" Saban, the Alabama football coach, and Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher, who grew up in Clarksburg, donated their used equipment to Hoover High.

Just making the playoffs under such appalling conditions is remarkable. Hoover’s team epitomizes the grit and determination that is the West Virginia spirit.

Hoover’s band uniforms and equipment also were ruined by the flooding. The 35 band members regrouped and played on with uniforms and equipment donated from non-West Virginia schools.

West Virginia native and actress Jennifer Garner raised $500,000 for Hoover High’s new building, which may take a few years to be constructed.

This will be more than just the normal game for both Huskies – North Marion and Clendenin Hoover.

Dad shares state title experience with daughters

The Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram had an interesting article about Fairmont West assistant lacrosse coach Wayne Cochran, whose daughters Rhenzy and Rhyan were on the state championship team.

Their mother is Ann Marie Preolitti Cochran Parsons. Their grandparents are Renzy Fazio and Frances Olesky Fazio, both Class of 1937, who owned Fazio Grocery at the bottom of Jackson Street hill at the Thomas Street intersection.

The Exponent-Telegram article:

Assistant FSH Lacrosse coach able to share unique moment with two daughters

·        

Rhyan, Renzy, Wayne Cochran

by Matt Welch Correspondent

·         Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram

John Dah

o 

Bottom of

FAIRMONT — The final buzzer had just sounded, giving Fairmont Senior’s girls’ lacrosse team a 12-3 victory and the opportunity to hoist the WVSLA state championship trophy.

But in the midst of the celebrations and the photo opportunities with friends, a family memory was being made.

Assistant coach Wayne Cochran and his daughters, Renzy and Rhyan, embraced each other on the turf at East-West Stadium, a joyous moment to end an incredible season, the first that the trio had gotten to spend together on the same field.

 

“To see the reaction between those two, and then when I got out there, it was a big tear session,” Wayne said, thinking back to the moment. “We cried. We cried together. It was incredible.”

The sport of lacrosse has become a family tradition for the Cochrans. Renzy, who just graduated from Fairmont Senior High School, began playing the sport in seventh grade.

That led to both her father and younger sister, a freshman this past year, getting involved, too.

“She started playing it, and I didn’t know a lot about it then. I watched some lacrosse over the years but not really women’s lacrosse,” Wayne said. “But after she got involved, I caught on and it was exciting.”

Then, when she moved to high school, Wayne got involved as a coach in the middle school program while Rhyan joined the team in sixth grade.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The non-stop practicing at both home and the field and anywhere in between all led up to this season, the first and only season that Renzy and Rhyan would share the field with their father watching on from the sideline as one of their coaches.

As a senior, Renzy wound up being voted the team’s MVP and Rhyan earned a letter. The simple fact that Renzy won that honor as a defender was rare, but it wasn’t surprising to anyone, really, even Wayne, who said he abstained from team award voting this season with both of his girls on the squad.

“Sometimes it’s hard being a coach’s kid. But I didn’t have to push with Renzy, she worked hard,” Wayne said.

Of course that led to more than just a team MVP award.

“That spilled over on to Rhyan. Renzy has really been a mentor to her,” the girls’ father said, noting that the younger daughter played offense. “They went head to head a few times and that’s a big confidence booster for Rhyan.”

For any parent coaching their kids, drawing the line between father and coach can be difficult. For the Cochrans, just being together is enough for them.

“It’s one of the most incredible feelings you can ever have,” Wayne said of coaching his daughters. “As a coach, knowing you’re impacting kids is a great feeling alone. When it’s your own kids and you get to see them actually improve as the year goes on and see them make contributions, that’s one of the best feelings ever.”

Wayne’s girls agreed.

“I think it’s pretty cool. I think it’s made us closer as a family, even,” Renzy said. “You’re not only spending time at home together, but you’re here together.”

 

“Just all of us together, it’s been a great family activity together,” Rhyan added.

When it comes to making plans to celebrate Father’s Day, the Cochrans’ plans typically always involve sports. This year, the family plans to attend the West Virginia Black Bears’ home opener, which just happens to be on Father’s Day.

Even though it’s a family of five daughters and zero sons, no one would change a thing.

“I think it’s more fun, honestly,” Renzy said of being a sports family full of girls. “Guys don’t expect girls to really like sports like we do. But we were raised around it. It’s different, but it’s nice.”

“I was always told, ‘Oh, you’ve got to have a son,’” Wayne said. “But I’ve got five daughters, and you couldn’t trade me anything plus a million dollars for any of them.”

Day in and day out this year, Wayne got a sideline view of two of those daughters finding success on the field at East-West Stadium and beyond.

Looking back on the season, Wayne could do little to keep a smile coming across his face when talking about it.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on this field together. It’s been good,” he said, his smile growing along with his daughters’. “You script out your life as a father, and obviously you want your kids to do the right things. But when you’re involved with them in something like this and you watch them be successful, it’s icing on the cake.”

Final prep football rankings

North Marion was the highest ranked team to NOT make the Class AA high school football players in West Virginia.

Fairmont West is ranked 4^th among the 16 teams that will be in the playoffs for Class AA.

Fairmont East is 25^th, or 9 places behind North Marion.

No. 1 rankings went to Cabell Midland in Class AAA, Bridgeport in Class AA and Magnolia in Class A.

To see all the rankings, click on http://wvmetronews.com/2015/11/07/final-2015-ssac-hs-football-playoff-ratings/

Hundred Hornets lose their buzz

From WBOY-TV

(my news source since the Fairmont Times no longer allows free online access)

HUNDRED - The Hundred Hornets canceled their football season because not enough players suited up.

Head Coach Rex Rush told WTRF they could not generate enough interest from students to play. The team had to forfeit two games in the 2013 season because of the lack of players due to injuries.

Students will be eligible to play at other schools in the county. Rush said, "It's pretty devastating after 10 years of coaching for things to end up like they did."

I remember when Monongah High played Hundred in football and baseball. The Hornets had a redhaired pitcher who was pretty good in the 1950s.

But in recent years it was common for Hundred to lose by 40 to 50 points in football.