Cardinal Hayes may be primed to go after the CHSAA's first city championship since 2019, while at Stevenson High School, a new, exciting challenge awaits the Ambassadors.

The CHSAA, one of the oldest and most prestigious high school basketball leagues in the country, has not fielded a traditional champion since 2019. Hopefully, that will change in 2022.

Cardinal Hayes hopes to be the team to win the title, which would be the school's first since 2017. Since the first CHSAA championship in 1928, only the coronavirus prevented a champion to be named, and it happened twice.

Hayes won the CHSAA's spring tournament at Archbishop Stapinac High School in White Plains before basketball was allowed to be played inside New York City gyms again. But it is now, and it's starting to feel more normal.

"Last year was so difficult, going up to Stepinac and going into an empty gym. You're so used to having all the parents and family and kids there, and now you're yelling and you're hearing yourself yell in an empty gym... it was really strange," say Cardinal Hayes head basketball coach. "It's nice to be around the kids. Let colleges have a chance to see them."

In the PSAL, Stevenson is back from the pandemic shutdown and ready to compete against the big boys.

The last few seasons, the Ambassadors were one of the better Class A programs in the city. Now they step up to try their hand at the AA, where they will compete against traditional powers like Kennedy and Wings Academy.