Locomotive sign two local Academy players to pro contracts
The El Paso Locomotive Academy has zipped past milestones in its year and a half of existence.
Academy players have played in USL games for the Locomotive senior club, Diego Abarca scored a goal for them and eight players have gone on to play in college.
The top level of Locomotive's youth player development arm earned its biggest moment yet on Thursday when two of its brightest stars, the 17-year-old Abarca and 18-year-old Joel Maldonado, graduated from the Academy to the USL.
They became the first two Locomotive homegrown players to sign professional contracts when they put pen to paper at a press conference at Southwest University Park and will be full-time paid members of the senior club next season.
"It's a big milestone in my career," said Abarca, who appeared in eight USL matches and scored the goal last season that was on ESPN's SportsCenter top 10. "I'm looking forward to next season, to keep going, to keep working hard."
Abarca, from the East Side of El Paso but attending school as a senior at Canutillo, which is across the street from the Locomotive practice facilities, learned of his impending signing when he was returning with the Academy team from a tournament in Austin.
"It was a crazy feeling," Abarca said. "I was at the (Austin) airport, coach called me over, I thought I was in trouble. I kept my head straight. 'You're going to be offered a pro contract with us.' I couldn't react, I was told to stay quiet. I went over to a Starbucks at the airport, I called my parents. I couldn't shed a tear, couldn't make a scene because people were around.
"My parents were extremely proud. This was a big step in my career. It's crazy."
The Las Crucen Maldonado appeared in six matches for the Locomotive last season.
"It was a dream come true," he said. "I've been dreaming of this since I was little. I was shocked, I'm still in shock, I can't believe it. Shocked."
Coach and technical director John Hutchinson stressed that this wasn't merely about promoting the Academy. Abarca and Maldonado will be expected to be contributors.
"Both these players will play a massive part on our football team this year," Hutchinson said. "It's not about saying, 'We're signing Academy kids, look how brave we are.' We believe these kids are going to play 10 to 15 games next year if everything goes well and they can prove to us and the squad they deserve to play.
"We want to give them minutes but they'll have to earn that. They earned it last year and hopefully they can earn it this year."
As for the signings, "This is a big moment for the franchise," Hutchinson said. "It's not just the Academy or the first team, it's everyone who has come together to do this. The ownership, (MountainStar president) Alan (Ledford) and (general manager) Andrew (Forrest) deserve credit for having the vision of this and giving young people in El Paso a pathway to pro."
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Two local Locomotive Academy players sign pro contracts
