Four years ago, the New Trier boys lacrosse program saw one if its best players, Ben Connelly, graduate and head east to play at Tufts University. That following season, a
new No. 32 (Connelly’s New Trier jersey number) arrived on campus — freshman Henry Scherb. Fast forward four years and Scherb will once again be following in Connelly’s footsteps, as he goes to Massachusetts to play for the Jumbos starting in the fall.

While Connelly didn’t really push him to attend Tufts, for Scherb, the passing down of the jersey number seemed to be a sign.

“He was number 32 in high school and I got kind of forced into taking 32 my freshman year when I made the team,” he said. “So I honestly think if I didn’t wear his number, we probably never would have really gotten in contact. It ended up kind of helping me a lot, kind of getting some connections with those coaches. So yeah, Ben, he’s a great player, great person and he was a great help on my process with Tufts.

“I really think without Ben, my relationship with coaches would have been a little different.”

But Connelly wasn’t the only reason that Scherb decided on the Division III school.

“I think the main thing that kind of swayed me was just the feeling I got when I was on campus,” he said. “I walked on, I saw the facilities, the locations, the town, the people, the team, everything. Everything there made me feel at home.”

Scherb, who started playing lacrosse in the sixth grade, leaves New Trier as its all-time scoring leader after scoring more than 70 goals this season and around 49 his junior year, as well as numerous goals his first two seasons.

Despite playing on the varsity squad for all four years of his high school career, Scherb didn’t really become much of a scorer until he became an upperclassman. Part of that could be because he played as a middie his sophomore year before moving primarily to the attack position his final two years.

He says that playing middie for that one year helped him become the player he is because he was able to see the entire field and not just from his attack position toward the goal.

Scherb and his teammates also finished the year as state champions, having knocked off Warren in the state title game and Loyola in the sectional final. The Ramblers had taken down the Trevians in the first-ever IHSA lacrosse state title game the year prior.

Losing that game is something Scherb says was on his mind for the past year.

“After we lost that game junior year, I remember I was holding onto the second place trophy and I didn’t say a word to anybody,” he said. “I was just looking at the trophy, absolutely anguished. I was so angry. But I remember looking at the trophy and saying, ‘I’m going to remember this feeling until I get revenge.’ I literally didn’t take my eyes off the trophy for the ride home.”

The following summer, he and his teammates were in the weight room every day, working to get better so that same feeling of anguish wouldn’t come back the next spring.

“I was in the weight room, shooting, do everything I could so that at least I was prepared to take on whatever we had to next year,” he said. “I think a bunch of the guys also did too and we had some ups and downs this year. But because we did lose last year, we knew that if we had more downs than ups, it was not going to work out for us. So we had multiple team meetings and us captains addressed the team and we made sure that we stayed focused when we had to.

“Coming home with the number one trophy, after especially losing the game last year, it was just the best feeling in the world. Literally I remember thinking, ‘Okay, there’s absolutely zero
chance that I’m going to lose this game next year.’ But then of course we lose to Loyola in the regular season this year and I’m like, ‘Oh, God. Who knows? Maybe it’ll happen again.’ But that loss definitely just motivated us and we held onto that feeling of loss and despair and we did not want to do that again.”

Scherb now joins a Tufts squad that is coming off of a 19-2 season that included a trip to the Division III Elite Eight and saw 10 Jumbos be named All-Americans. They’ve qualified for 11 of the past 12 NCAA Tournaments, including every one since the 2009 season. Tufts has also played for the national title five times this decade, including a stretch from 2014-16. It also won national titles in 2014 and 2015.

But before he gets out to Massachusetts, Scherb is going to enjoy his time as a state champion.

“It was a feeling I’m never going to forget and it’s going to be a feeling that I’m going to hold onto for the rest of my life,” he said. “Not just lacrosse, but just any life situation, just knowing that you’ve got to bounce back and that anything’s possible as long as you have motivation, work your hardest towards your goal. It’s going to happen.

“Me and my friends have been playing together for like eight years now and ending on that note, it was like the best thing ever. It was paradise.”

This story was published in 22nd Century Media newspapers in the summer of 2019