League insiders and our artificial intelligence bots wonder: Exactly what is going on in the BDSL's premier division?

 

BSC Raiders and Amherst Sharpshooters, perennial locks to finish in the top four, sit a combined 1-2-1 after two weeks. 

 

Raiders, at 0-1-1 after Sunday's 2-0 loss to NMB, have already tried to bolster their roster through the addition of Axel Lozoya, a versatile player with NPSL experience with the Buffalo Stallions. Sharpshooters aimed to get a little younger, adding Williamsville North standout Omeya Kelkar.

 

It might still be too soon to declare a changing of the guard. NMB's torrid start will be hard to sustain once Stallions' NPSL season begins and contributors like Tyler Warmington, Gianni Pezzino and Jacob Korte wrestle with schedule challenges. It is heartwarming that more than 50% of the team has a brother on the squad, though.

 

The slow starts for perennial frontrunners should be encouraging news for Borussia Bees (2-0) and BUSS (1-0), who both have the talent and pedigree to make deep postseason runs.

 

*Note: We have added a new award: Slopper of the Week. We'll try not to duplicate the league's honors -- shared midweek on social media (@officialBDSL) -- but instead pick an unsung hero who may not have blistered the scoresheet but nevertheless made an impact in a win. There's no real criteria other than that, so feel free to disagree with each and every Slopper.

 

Here's the rest of the AI-driven slop from each division.

 

Premier

 

Olean 1854 hit the ground running a week after everyone else, shutting out Buffalo Stallions in Allegany. Their now St. Bonaventure-fueled side - Nic Pucci, Avery Dreasky and Dean Mercer were quality adds - could see them knocking on postseason's door instead of fighting relegation, especially with their home-field advantage (playing in virtually another country). 

 

We'll wrap prem with a series of somewhat rhetorical questions.

 

How about the BDSL coming out party for Sean Burke, the former Medaille and D'Youville standout who tallied twice against Sharpshooters? 

 

Can Blitz average more than .5 goals per game?

 

Is Buffalo Celtic quietly (or loudly) wishing it were back in Championship?

 

Slopper of the Week: Alex Cancilla, Bees.

 

Championship

 

Are Ukraine and Revolution for real? They're 4-0 combined with 17 goals for and two against. (It's influenced quite a bit by Ukraine's 9-1 evisceration of Cattaraugus County, but it made for a fun stat). 

 

Will Willies' Chase Dade be remembered for his electric four-goal first half or the straight red card that might cost him more than half of the season? Not sure.

 

Medina hasn't scored through 180 minutes after averaging 3.4 goals per game last season in first division. Is the level that different or is Medina underachieving? We'd say a combination of the two, but the Mustangs have a "get-right" week ahead against reeling Cattaraugus.

 

Queen City Gunners have shown real assurance defensively through two weeks, losing to high-powered Ukraine 1-0 before ousting Medina by the same score. Club legend Jacob Ramirez tallied the lone marker and former D'Youville keeper Peter Petruzzo kept the sheet clean.

 

Slopper of the Week: Sammy Tringali, Willies.

 

First Division

 

Luke Webster of Mandem might be the Slopper of the entire league this week for the effort to convince his brother, Alec, to show up to his side's BDSL game because without him, the Clarence-based squad would have had to play short. Well, Alec attended despite an iffy hamstring and scored three goals and added three assists. That wouldn't have happened if it weren't for "lots of convincing" by the side's manager.

 

It will be fascinating to see how Chargers, with by far the oldest roster in the division, competes with the high-tempo younger foes. They can be a scrappy, physical group, but attendance struggles could mean some ugly scorelines. Kunz and Honey Badgers are next on the schedule, so we'll have a better idea soon.

 

The gulf between the top and bottom halves of this division might be gigantic. Also, sign us up for Buffalo Night vs. Mandem on June 7.

 

Slopper of the Week: (Luke Webster, obviously) but also Stephen Recktenwald from Coyotes for his Tasmanian Devil act and wearing a linebacker number (52).

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Second Division

 

Opponents are quickly finding that Douglass Tshibuyi and Issak Sabtow will be quite a handful up front this year for United Warriors. With that kind of firepower, Warriors should be able to compete in any game. The defense might be called into question this year -- as seen in the 3-1 loss to JL Dutch in the opener -- but Marcus Tittle kept the clean sheet -- despite playing down a man for a stretch -- in Sunday's 2-0 win over Devils.

 

After a surprise 3-3 draw to open the season against upstart WNY Phoenix (who also beat Kunz in cup play), Infinity righted the ship with a comfortable 4-0 win over Crimson Fire. Luke Lennox dictated play, creating three goals -- including two to Over-35 teammate Chris Griffiths -- and scoring one of his own. 

 

Cosmos are nearly halfway already to last year's win total, tacking on their second win to open the season behind goals from nimble Hector Harris and Kontributing Kody Weinert (three goals and an assist so far). 

 

Poor D1 and D2, who have a fixture frenzy this week thanks to Wood Cup games.

 

Slopper of the Week: Dan Weimer, Bangarang.

 

Third Division

 

Keep an eye out for Midnimo FC, who might be the class of the division, even if the league power rankings have opted not to bump them beyond fifth after their 5-0 stomping of Badger Academy in Matthews Cup and their league-opening 2-0 win over Brighten Stars (who misspelled their own name in the game report). 

 

Hamso Dagane, Hassane Sow, Mohammad Bakkar and Messi Bayombo is a downright scary strike force. Can they play together?

 

Mavericks came flying back down to earth, falling to division favorite NWO, 3-0, with the victors led by Noah Magee and Brady Hilliman. Maybe we just don't know the Mavs yet?

 

Lake Shore is an entirely different team when Max Zielonka is in attendance. A feverish work rate and two late goals propelled LSFC to victory, even if the club has already picked up four yellow cards, tied for the most in the league with several others.

 

Slopper of the Week: Ben Dinehart, Badger Academy.

 

Fourth Division

 

Were Flamingo placed in too low of a division? The newcomers are making a compelling case after two weeks, most recently thrashing Huskies, 5-2. 

 

It's been an auspicious start for another newcomer, Phoenix FC (not to be confused with WNY Phoenix, of course), who upset Celtic Classic Sunday after a midweek cup loss against a third-division team. Former Quake midfielder Bryce Butler, who scored the lone goal in the 1-0 win over Huskies to open the season, added a goal and an assist in the win over Classic.  

 

Queen City AFC may be among the league's elite in content -- game photos, occasional video, random nicknames and quirky banter -- but they're making a case to be considered among the division's elite. Jon Hartman, who can't seem to escape nicknames related to his hair color, kept a clean sheet against the Erie Kats, who were much more competitive in Week Two.

 

Slopper of the Week: Nolan Chambers, WNY United Reds.

 

Over-35

 

Quiet week in the elder tier, with Enigma-Lykan postponing to watch the Sabres game and Blue Stars on a bye. Oranje beat up Thundercats, 6-0, with braces from Rogerio Faria and Josh Meier. Manager Ross Karipidis made six or seven (makes hand motion) quality additions this offseason that could position Oranje as a dark horse.

 

Azzurri debuted with a 2-0 blanking of Devils behind a dominant performance by center back Eric Holler and a key late save by Lee Tran. 

 

West stumbled by a surprisingly large margin to Soho, 4-0, who received goals from returnees Justin Bigham, Dylan Rubadeaux and Brent Garner. 

  

Slopper of the Week: Bobby Black, Soho.