The alarm in his bedroom goes off, and Jack Sargeant is already thinking about what will happen 10 hours from now.
He gets dressed, eats breakfast, walks thru the doors of Mineola High School around 7:25 a.m. and is already looking at the time, wondering if it will just move already, and get him closer to what he’s been looking forward to doing since the night before: play “the beautiful game” of soccer.
Friends, classes, lunch … yeah, all that’s fine and good, but it’s all just a distraction until the bells ring and he can get in uniform for the Mustangs, ready to conquer all before him.
“I can’t even describe it, really, what game day feels like,” Sargeant said. “You’re in school, you’re seeing friends and other kids who don’t even know soccer but they’re excited to come watch, and it gets you pumped up. I have a hard time, honestly, thinking about anything else on game days.”
While that’s probably not music to the ears of Sargeant’s teachers, his mentality has served the Mustangs exceedingly well the last three years as he’s excelled as a varsity starter.
Sargeant delivered 10 goals and assisted on six others in 2021, and this season he’s been an unstoppable force. Through games of Oct. 6, the senior midfielder has poured in 14 goals and five assists, among the leaders in all of Nassau County.
With a few games left in the regular season, Sargeant had a good chance to break the Mineola High School record of 19 goals by a player in a season.
“This year Jack knows the team goes as he goes, and he’s accepted that role and really flourished,” said Mineola head coach Al Cavalluzzo. “His vision, how he anticipates is just phenomenal. He’s always two or three steps ahead of everyone he’s playing with, and playing against.”
That vision is part instinctual, but also the result of thousands of hours of practice with kids Sargeant has grown up with.
Take teammate Sebastian Knight, a Mustangs junior. Sargeant said that he and Knight have played together so much that just by watching Knight when he gets the ball, he knows what to do.
“I know he’s looking to go forward and set me up and get an assist, so when he get the ball, he goes straight toward the goal,” Sargeant explained. “I look to when he’s picking his head up when he’s dribbling. As soon as he picks his head up, I make that run and prepare for the ball because that’s the moment he’s going to send it to me.”
Sargeant’s goals this season have come from everywhere, he said. He’s converted penalty kicks, he’s scored from inside the box, on some long shots and some rebounds inches from the goalie.
“He’s just very good at making something happen in small spaces,” Cavalluzzo said. “You give him a small space, he’s going to cut through and score. He knows how to maximize what the defense is giving him, and he’s great at making his teammates better.”
Soccer has been Sargeant’s passion since he was born, he said with a laugh. his father Russell instilled the love of the game in him, and by age 5 Jack said he was being told by coaches that he has a bright future in the game.
As he grew and played club soccer (he now plays for East Meadow Soccer Club) his skills improved as he studied the game. Sargeant and his Dad are huge Liverpool fans, even going to England to watch some of their favorite team’s Premier League games.
His playmaking ability is what excites Sargeant the most (“I love seeing my teammates faces after they score a goal, so I love passing the most,” he said), but trying to bring Mineola a county or state title is what his goal truly is. That, and becoming an FBI agent when he gets older.
Division I colleges have been recruiting him, but no decision is imminent.
