By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Two Brownsville Veterans Memorial teammates will continue to be for another four years.
The Chargers’ Kevin Fischer and Jorge Montelongo decided to continue playing football in college and will do so as teammates at Texas Lutheran University, a NCAA Division III school in Seguin. The pair made their decision official during a signing ceremony Tuesday at Brownsville Veterans.
Fischer, a standout defensive back, and Montelongo, an outstanding offensive lineman, helped the Chargers earn a playoff berth this season and will continue their careers playing for the Bulldogs.
“It makes me feel lucky that I’ve been able to coach some talented athletes,” Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu said. “At the same time these guys have aspirations to have careers in medicine. I just though TLU was the right fit for these guys.”
Both Montelongo and Fischer were excited to stay together after having been teammates the past four years at Brownsville Veterans. They also were happy to be joined by Abraham Caram of St. Joseph Academy. He signed to play for Texas Lutheran last week.
“The campus is pretty nice and they’re three-time conference champs, which is pretty appealing as a football player,” Montelongo said. “The fact that Kevin gets to go play with me was a major key because I won’t be going alone, I have somewhere there to enjoy everything. Abraham is an offensive lineman, too, so that will be even more exciting.”
Fischer had been thinking about this moment for a while. And it was made better with a teammate.
“It feels good, it’s been my dream since I was a little kid,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to play football. “I liked the coaches a lot. The stadium, the campus is beautiful. Everything about it was perfect.
“(Going with Montelongo) will make it easier, a lot more comfortable. I won’t be as nervous.”
Montelongo plans to study nursing and Fischer is set to study ophthalmology. Both student-athletes earned academic scholarships that will provide most of their tuition.
Cantu will miss two players who were three-year starters, leaders on the field and ones who could be counted on every day.
“Their legacy will be remembered, and with the tenacity of how they played,” he said. “We’ll use these two as examples to our younger players of what it takes to be a leader of our Chargers’ football team and what it takes to continue to play after high school.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.