Thoughts about what might’ve been only creep into Lowell senior Jesus Sanchez’s mind a little bit.
Sanchez entered the Red Devils’ regular-season finale on Wednesday with 20 goals, just five short of Sam Paunovici’s program record set in 2004. But Sanchez missed three games this season — two after he completed basic training with the National Guard over the summer and one due to an ongoing issue with his right knee.
“It could happen,” Sanchez said of the record. “It’s a big opportunity. I’ve always wanted to break the record since I was a freshman. I might come close. I might not.
“But in the end, I’m happy. I wish I had those three missed games I had back, but you just have to keep going one by one. If it happens, it happens.”
The resurgent Red Devils (9-5-1, 4-2), who finished third in the Northwest Crossroads Conference behind Munster and Hanover Central, begin the postseason Tuesday with a game against Valparaiso in the Class 3A Crown Point Sectional. So Sanchez still has a chance to pull off the feat.
“You just hurt for him because surely the record would’ve been his given three more games,” Lowell coach Jeremy Shuler said.
The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Sanchez, who also has four assists, contributed 12 goals and seven assists last season, which represented a big jump for him. He had five goals and four assists as a freshman — when he weighed 110 pounds — and then five goals and seven assists as a sophomore.
“Last year, he really stepped up and took over that goal-scoring spot for us,” Shuler said. “He’s been a leader. He demands excellence, which is always fun to have a player who’s going to go out and drive the team to be at their best.”
Indeed, Sanchez has been focused on the Red Devils’ success. He has been instrumental during their best season since they went 13-6-1 in 2006.
Lowell won just one game in 2020, the season before Sanchez arrived. The Red Devils increased their victories to three, six and eight before this season.
“It comes with a good mindset,” Sanchez said. “We’ve gotten it into our head that we want to win and we want to win things.
“With a good team like this, you can’t complain at all. Just the environment and the people around us, Lowell is definitely starting to get better. In the future, Lowell is going to be a top team. I’m glad the program is getting way better.”
Part of that progress, the Red Devils made their debut on their new field Monday — their one and only opportunity this season — and won 3-0 against Boone Grove. Sanchez contributed his 20th goal of the season.
“It’s just working hard,” he said. “You have to put in the work to get those goals, and you can’t do it without good teammates. The goals wouldn’t happen without my midfielders providing the good passes.”
Junior midfielder Justin Carlson has 12 assists this season, two short of matching the program record.
“He’s a big leader,” Carlson said of Sanchez. “Before every game, he always gives us a big pep talk. He ups the energy. The games without him, those games were rough, because when he gets on the field, he pushes everyone to get better. He’s always telling us what we have to do, and it’s not in a rude way. He’s always lifting us up and pushing us to be better.”
Sanchez joined the National Guard in December. He left for basic training at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas on June 3 and returned Aug. 16. After completing the requisite number of practices, he opened his senior season by netting a hat trick in the Red Devils’ 3-3 tie against Hammond Central on Aug. 24.
“Basic training was fun, but it was tough,” Sanchez said. “It’s not for the weak. It teaches you discipline, integrity, all of those things they instill in your brain.”
Sanchez then sat out Lowell’s Sept. 12 game against Illiana Christian as he managed a meniscus problem. He has been wearing a sleeve on his knee and receiving virtually daily treatment from the athletic trainer.
“After the season, I’ll probably get it checked out again,” Sanchez said. “I just wanted to play the whole season, help my team.”
Sanchez is scheduled to return to Fort Leavenworth for five weeks this summer for his job training in combat engineering. He will likely attend Purdue or Purdue Northwest to study mechanical engineering.
“You have to have a plan — that’s how my dad’s always said it, since my freshman year,” Sanchez said of his father, Jesus “Chuy” Sanchez. “He’s taught me a lot of things about life. He’s a big mentor of mine. He’s always said to have a plan and execute it. So I’ve always been organized. You just have to stay on top of everything.”
