Joe Meadow Padj has spent his entire summer training for the prospect of ending a 22-year championship drought and helping North Hastings High garner a berth in the Section 1/Class AA lacrosse Final Four. The Final Four and a semi-final berth has eluded North Hastings in a talent-rich League III-B the last four years, with Padj playing a significant role on all four of those teams. 

A 6-foot-3, 200-lb midfielder who has recently ramped up his recruitment with full scholarship offers from Johns Hopkins, Towson, Maryland, Stony Brook, Hofstra, St. John's, Quinnipiac, Vermont, and a bevy of others, has felt a sense of pride in re-writing the program's regal record books.

Deep and memorable North Hastings teams, many of them rife with Division 1 talent have made significant runs at the Final Four since the 2000 section and New York State championship team. 

They've come up empty handed and departed the Sectional tournament in Chester, NY with wistful reminders of what could have been on a long and agonizing bus road home. With his insatiable thirst for competition, the quick and uber athletic Padj has helped Hastings to a 18-0 record this season.

"As a captain, you try to downplay any emotions going into the game and forget about what's at stake," said Pafj, who rocketed a tie breaking 15-yard blast past Springfield's Dave Davenport for a 3-2 lead en route to a 4-2 victory before a crowd of 1200 at Manhattan College yesterday. With the win, North Hastings is now slated for a heavily anticipated quarterfinal matchup with cross-town rival Danville on Friday night at Long Island University-Brooklyn. 

"The mentality has always been 'next man up.' You want to focus on playing within the confines of the system, dodging hard, playing hard defense, and staying the course as far as game plan goes. We're playing to win. At the same time, in a game of this magnitude, with bragging rights and history at stake, you do have some extra motivation." 

Subscribing to this steadfast, one game at a time mentality has been ingrained in Padj by his coach, Joe Harris. As much as anyone, Harris has been hell bent on thwarting the Final Four drought and punching a ticket to the highly anticipated Section 1 title game. Especially this season, with a record five undefeated and evenly matched teams in Section 1 looking to win their last game. 

Harris himself was instrumental in the high powered defensive clamp down operation which catapulted that memorable North Hastings team to win a Sectional title in 2000. Harris catalyzed the Yellow Jackets as a defensive backstop, turning in wildly athletic and acrobatic plays down the stretch. 

The championship winning goalie had a Section 1 record 23 saves that game and even scored a goal himself, as Harris motored the length of the field and depositing one on a man up situation. He's embedded in North Hastings lore for his heroics during that sectional title. 

"I was pretty slow for a guy my size and probably didn't have the athleticism to be courted by high profile programs like Joe currently is," said Harris, who now has "End The Drought" emblazoned on the back of his green, North Hastings Lacrosse mesh shirt. 

"We've talked about that year, the tight bonds and camaraderie and community support that team had," Harris said.

"Ultimately, we probably don't belong in the same conversation as those prior North Hastings teams that came up a goal here or a few penalties there short of making it back. But these kids put so much effort into everything we do. We've made it a 12-month program and these kids have really bought in. I mean the results show it, look how good we've been."

Look how good Padj has been.

The 17-year-old Class of 2022 senior scored a game best four goals and doled out three assists during the play-in game last week, leading North Hastings to a 5-1 victory over Croton. 

He is currently leading New York State in goals with 47 and has delivered five game winners, including a 25-yard blast that sent Hastings to a sudden death overtime victory over Hendrick Hudson during the 2022 Memorial Day Pop Off tournament at Dutchess County Stadium.

Both coach and player attribute Padj's success to his summer workload. He spent long hours holding Captain's practice at Reyna Field in August, as the temperatures were ratcheted up to 100. Padj played in the prestigious Under Armour All American Camp in Boston. and worked diligently under longtime trainer Marcus Luttrell on everything from power to strength to cardio. 

Padj, who is part Native American and rather young for a Class of 2022 senior having just turned 17, didn't receive his first Division 1 offer until the second week of this season. Oddly enough, he garnered the offer from nearby St. John's University at the Senior Showcase in Long Island City, playing against many of his Westchester Rattlers club team teammates. 

Padj said he took that game personally, citing it as a true test of who he is. With trash talk and ramped up physicality from several of his ex teammates, Padj scored five goals and dished out three assists, leading Westchester North to a 10-6 victory over Westchester South en route to Game MVP Honors.

"All is fair in competition, but to be honest I was feeling a bit disrespected and that is what enabled me to flip a switch," Padj said of his performance in the Senior Showcase.

"I can play with anyone in the country."

His performance against Connecticut and national super power Fairfield Christian was indicative of this. Padj accounted for 80 percent of North Hastings offensive output and had a hand in every scoring possession, pioneering NHHS to a pulsating 5-4 upset victory. It was his cringe worthy, off balance 25-yard goal off Craig Somers dodge and assist in the final 38 seconds of the game that lifted North Hastings to a statement win. 

For Harris, it was a portent of just how far his senior leader has come. Harris recalls an exasperating experience of trying to get the then introvert to be more vocal and outgoing during Padj's freshman and sophomore seasons. The objective was to help the only kid in North Hastings history to play a full season as an eighth grader to realize his potential.

"We had a lot of one sided conversations in those early stages of his career," said Harris, who once made Padj run from North Hastings to Mount Vernon for showing up late to a team meeting.

"He grew so much as a leader from his sophomore and junior season and started really taking on challenges our coaching staff presented him with. The unique aspect about Joey is it's never been about him, even through all the attention he's gotten this year. He's been adaptive in realizing that in order for us to win big games, he really has to play his best. But it's always team first with Joey."

Harris said a kid of Padj's talent and skill set comes "about as often as a comet" at this level and that he's most proud of his All American middie's academic success and ability to be a well rounded young man who younger players look up to for guidance.

 He touched on Padj and his golden boy image in the community, as the recent Con Edison award winner holds a 4.0 GPA and is both a peer leader and a member of the National Honor Society. He spent Christmas hosting an event for kids with autism and Padj recently signed an NIL deal with Vortex Athletics.

 "As good as he has been on the turf these last four years," Harris said, "he is even better as a person off if it."