Liberty’s Street, Duggan are teammates once more in Big 33 game – lehighvalleylive.com

Next Sunday, Darian Street and Jaohne Duggan will split opposite directions from Bethlehem to pursue their college football careers.

For one more night before then, the Liberty standouts shared the same uniform and field together.

Street and Duggan both played a hand in helping Pennsylvania beat Maryland 44-33 Saturday night in the 60th annual Big 33 Classic at Central Dauphins Landis Field.

Me and Jaohne, weve been playing basketball together since we were nine years old, Street said. It was good to play one last game with him.

It was cool, especially having Darian as my teammate, Duggan added.

Street will head to Pittsburgh while Duggan is set to play at Rutgers. Before they go, the Hurricanes made sure Pennsylvania picked up a third straight win in the Big 33 series.

For Street, the game served as an opportunity to gain bragging rights with his brother Devin, who played in the 2009 Big 33 game before moving on to Pitt and his current career in the NFL. Devin was in attendance Saturday night, along with a big Liberty cheering section, to see Street earn the start at wide receiver and haul in three catches for 84 yards including a 51-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter, which ended up providing the winning points.

I always try to do better than (Devin) did, Street grinned. (He didnt score) and he didnt start, either. I got two on him.

Streets touchdown came on a double move, one that EPC opponents know all too much about. He gained separation and was in stride when the pass from Pennsylvania MVP Reece Udinski (North Penn) came down and led him into the end zone.

The week meant more to Street than just the game, though. He appreciated his time with the buddies the special needs kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities paired with players and cheerleaders and his host family, all of which made for a memorable experience before the game kicked off.

Throwing the football with the buddies and seeing them smile, they were so excited to be around us, Street said. They looked up to us like a brother and that was really great.

Duggan, meanwhile, made his presence known from the second he stepped onto the field Saturday night. The hulking 6-foot-2, 270-pound defensive lineman came flying into the backfield on his first snap and laid a big hit on the Maryland quarterback, just after he got rid of the ball for an incompletion.

It was crazy because Maryland had some big O-linemen, Duggan said. It was good competition. I was playing inside a lot and end a little bit. When I was playing inside, I was getting doubled a lot, so it was pretty tough. It was good competition though.

While Duggan may have made a late rise as one of the top talents in the Lehigh Valley gridiron scene, he took full advantage and turned back-to-back all-state selections into a Division I scholarship and a ticket to the Big 33.

Man, theres a bunch of players around the state and were the players that got picked, Duggan said. Representing my state, it meant everything to me. Im grateful that I had a chance to play in this.

Greg Joyce may be reached atgjoyce@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter@GJoyce9.FindLehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.

26

Gallery: Pa. vs. Md in the 60th Big 33 Classic

Read the original post:

Liberty's Street, Duggan are teammates once more in Big 33 game - lehighvalleylive.com

Related Posts

Comments are closed.