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Test Kitchen: Broiled crab cakes are a delicious and simple seafood dish to try at home

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Meyers back at states with different look

When we last left the Berwick Bulldogs, it was a week ago.After defying the odds and pulling off two upsets, the feel-good story of Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball ran into the baddest team in District 2 &#8212; Scranton Prep.Final score in the D2-3A championship game &#8212; Prep, 70-45.Now, Berwick (16-10) will attempt to recover as it plays District 3 fourth seed Lampeter-Strasburg (23-4) at 6 p.m. Friday at Crestwood High School in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A basketball tournament.&#8220;I gave them off Saturday and Sunday,&#8221; Berwick coach Jason Kingery said. &#8220;We came in Monday and I said, &#8216;Hey, this is what we worked for. We&#8217;re in the state tournament for the first time since 1980.&#8217;&#8220;They&#8217;ve responded well. We had practice Monday, Wednesday and again Thursday this week. We go an hour and a half &#8212; 30 minutes film, an hour on the floor. And then we scrimmaged at Danville on Tuesday to try to break it up a little bit.&#8221;Berwick broke up its stigma of being a pushover this season, a reputation that extended well before Kingery took over five seasons ago. The Dawgs were in every WVC game this season and were only blown out twice, each time by WVC Division 1 champion Hazleton Area.Then came the postseason where sixth-seeded Berwick survived Dallas 56-53 before upsetting third-seeded Nanticoke 47-45 on the same court it will play on Friday and second-seeded GAR 62-55.The Dawgs started well against Nanticoke and GAR, and when pockets of turbulence hit &#8212; including a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit against Nanticoke &#8212; they were confident enough to stay the course.Then came Prep, a team which had rattled most of its previous 25 opponents. The Cavaliers got on top early and Berwick never recovered.&#8220;Against Prep, it was a combination of two things,&#8221; Kingery said. &#8220;One, they&#8217;re really good. And two, we didn&#8217;t play well. Take nothing away from Scranton Prep. They did things we just couldn&#8217;t compete with. But when you got a really good team playing against a team under the bright lights and not ready for that atmosphere, bad things happen. That&#8217;s why we had a 25-point loss.&#8221;Lampeter-Strasburg was rolling along this season, winning 19 of its first 20 games. The Pioneers hit a rough patch, losing their regular-season finale to Cedar Crest before losing two of four in the D3-3A playoffs. The program has won one District 3 title, with the championship coming in the 2001-02 season.Kingery said Lampeter-Strasburg is akin to Nanticoke in style and offensive philosophy. The Pioneers funnel their attack through 6-foot-4 junior Ben Sandberg (14.1 ppg) and 6-foot-3 senior Matt Achille (13.6). All the regulars are at least 6-2, with senior center Darren Metz the tallest at 6-5.&#8220;It&#8217;s our home game with our fans, so we have to come right out and go at them from the get-go,&#8221; said Kingery, whose team will be playing at Crestwood for a third time this season. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s the key. We have to start out good, start out fast.&#8221;The winner plays Tuesday against the winner of the game between D12 champ Delaware Valley Charter (24-4) and D3 sixth seed Gettysburg (14-10). Those teams play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Lincoln High School in Philadelphia.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

Better start key for Berwick in first state game since 1980