WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- During coach Darrell Hazells first three seasons at Purdue, defense certainly hasnt been the Boilermakers forte, explaining in large part why this program entered Saturdays opener 6-30 beginning with 2013.Seven of last years 12 opponents scored at least 41 points in a 2-10 season, but defense provided all the momentum Purdue needed against Eastern Kentucky in Ross-Ade Stadium.Leroy Clark and Gelen Robinsons first-quarter interceptions helped Purdue build an early 21-0 lead, and the Boilermakers outlasted the Football Championship Subdivision Colonels 45-24 in the season opener for both teams.Clarks interception of Maty Mauk, the fifth-year graduate transfer quarterback from Missouri, set up Purdues second touchdown and a 14-0 lead, and Robinsons 78-yard interception return for a score pushed the Boilermakers advantage to 21-0 with 3:31 remaining in the first quarter.Markell Jones scored on a 3-yard run to cap an efficient opening drive for Purdue.Obviously, we like to win the turnover battle, and that was a huge part of our preparation, as it is for every team, said Robinson, the son of former Purdue All-American basketball standout and NBA player Glenn Robinson.For me, it was great to do my part to help the defense win that battle. On my interception, as soon as I saw the quarterback flare out, I knew my job. I had help scoring when (cornerback) Myles Norwood blocked the quarterback.Eastern Kentucky turned the ball over four times. The Boilermakers were guilty of one.While Eastern Kentucky out gained the Boilermakers 284-243 during the first 30 minutes, Purdue built a led 28-18 at halftime, thanks to the 14 points as a result of interceptions.Any time you can play out front like we did, it takes a little bit of stress off you, coach Hazell said, So it was good for us to get those turnovers and convert those turnovers into points. Then I thought our guys responded well in the second half by playing great defense and penetrating well.First-year Eastern Kentucky coach Mark Elder said the first-quarter turnovers provided this games storyline.You are not going to have a chance to win many games with three turnovers in the first quarter, Elder said, We have to do a better job of protecting the ball. Our guys fought and played hard all game, but we got down by too much too early.Boilermaker redshirt sophomore quarterback David Blough ran for two touchdowns and threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DeAngelo Yancey, giving Purdue a 28-8 lead late in the second quarter.I thought we moved the ball really well, said Blough, who was 1-7 as a starter in 2015. We sustained some drives and picked up some crucial third downs, but theres so many little things that we can do to make it that much better. We didnt score on one drive when we got inside their 10.Jones carried 24 times for 143 yards for a Purdue team that now has won 13 consecutive home openers, including 4-0 for fourth-year coach Hazell, now 7-30 with the Boilermakers. Hazell is 4-0 against FCS opponents.You have to know that those 143 rushing yards all start up front, Jones said. Those guys did a good job of imposing their will, which made it pretty easy for me to find holes and seams and hit them.Each team struggled to generate any third-quarter offense, especially after Colonels quarterback Bennie Coney, who replaced Mauk in the first quarter, took a hard hit while scrambling and was helped to the sideline, prompting Mauks return.Purdue finally broke the second-half scoring drought on Bloughs second TD run, a 1-yard plunge with 12:48 remaining in the game to extend the lead to 35-18.J.D. Dellingers 30-yard field goal with 4:56 to play capped a 13-play, 66-yard drive and gave the Boilermakers a 38-18 lead.Blough finished 25 of 43 for 245 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Domonique Young caught eight passes for 74 yards.Purdue capped its scoring with a 48-yard touchdown run from freshman Brian Lankford-Johnson with 4:23 left. The Colonels got a TD with 1:34 remaining to complete the scoring.TAKEAWAYPurdue: While the Boilermakers pulled away during the final 12:48, they led their FCS opponent by just 10 points heading into the final quarter in front of only 32,074 fans on a gorgeous September afternoon. Purdue finished with 512 yards of offense and snapped a four-game losing streak to end the 2015 season. The 32,074 was the smallest home crowd for a Purdue home opener since 25,000 watched the Boilermakers defeat Missouri 31-0 on Sept. 25, 1954, almost 62 years ago.Eastern Kentucky: If Coney is able to play next week after taking a hard hit in the second half, the Colonels coaching staff will have a difficult decision to make at quarterback. Mauk struggled at Purdue, but he was 17-5 as a starter at Missouri. It was clear Saturday that the Eastern Kentucky offense had a better rhythm with Coney under center.Our plan from the get-go was that we were going to put Mauk in for the first two series and Coney was going to play series three and four and we were going to go from there, Elder said. Bennie had a hot hand, so we kept him in there. For the second half, we had the same plan.KEY NUMBERSPurdue: The Boilermakers key to limiting Eastern Kentucky to six second-half points centered on third-down conversions. The Colonels were 10 of 14 in the first half when they scored 18 points and 0 for 6 in the final 30 minutes when they scored six.Eastern Kentucky: Coney finished 13 of 23 for 158 yards and a touchdown, while Mauk was only 2 of 7 for 18 yards with two picks. Mauk did rush eight times for 39 yards.INJURY REPORTPurdue was without starting cornerback DaWan Hunte (sprained ankle) and defensive end Austin Larkin (sprained ankle). Each starter, according to Hazell, should be ready for the Sept. 10 game against Cincinnati.THE LAST WORDWe did not come here to play close, and we certainly did not come here to lose by 21. We came here to win the game. --- Eastern Kentucky coach Mark Elder.UP NEXTPurdue: The Boilermakers are home again on Sept. 10, hosting Cincinnati at noon. The Bearcats defeated Purdue in September of 2013 in Hazells first game with the Boilermakers, 42-7 in Cincinnati. The Bearcats opened the season Thursday night with a 28-7 victory against Tennessee-Martin.Eastern Kentucky: The Colonels will attempt to give coach Mark Elder his first victory at EKU on Thursday when they play Pikeville. Fredrik Claesson Jersey .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. Dion Phaneuf Jersey . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. http://www.senatorsauthority.com/authentic-alexandre-burrows-senators-jersey/ . Louis Cardinals. Victorino is batting sixth and playing right field after missing two games because of back tightness. Mark Stone Jersey . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. Mark Borowiecki Jersey . The Croatian served 21 aces and hit 42 winners against Sijsling, who double-faulted to give Cilic a 4-3 lead in the deciding set. "All the players, they know me and they were really happy to see me and they were really happy that this is over for me," Cilic said. Marlon Samuels isnt known to show anything approaching haste when he runs between wickets, but here he was, scurrying as fast as his legs could manage, taking a short detour to avoid running into the bowler as he reached the other end. This was the 30th ball of his innings; this was his first run.The last time Samuels played a Test match at Sabina Park, he had made two-ball ducks in both innings. He had endured quite a wait to score his first run at his home ground in nearly four years.The crowd was small, but they made a big noise now, whistles and applause, the piercing cry of a conch.Two days before the game, Samuels had spoken of wanting to show my Jamaican people what they have been seeing over the years, me coming out here, playing shots, and just enjoying myself in the middle. Now, on day one of the Test, he had walked in with his five-year-old son Dimitri, who had been the mascot at the toss, in the crowd.Playing shots and enjoying himself would have been the farthest thing from Samuels mind when he took guard. West Indies were 4 for 2, and the two wickets had fallen off successive deliveries. He had made a pair in his last Test at this venue; now he had to prevent an Ishant Sharma hat-trick.The pitch was green, it was moist, and his captain had chosen to bat first. The first ball he faced jagged back, climbed from a good length, and hit him high on the front pad. Not convincing by any means, but the hat-trick was averted.West Indies had added a mere three runs to their score when Rajendra Chandrika hung his bat out at a rising away-seamer from Mohammed Shami, and nicked to gully. In walked Jermaine Blackwood.Two local boys in partnership, just the sort of thing the crowd might have come to watch, though they would probably have preferred West Indies to have made at least a hundred more runs before they joined each other.Samuels had made a fifty in his last innings, the second innings of West Indies innings defeat in the first Test in Antigua. In his ten most recent Test innings before that, he had made 11, 0, 13, 6, 9, 3, 0, 19, 4 and 1. Blackwood, meanwhile, came into this Test match with scores of 16, 4, 0, 0, 28, 20, 10, 0 and 0. Some may have counted him lucky that his captain, while picking an extra fast bowler for this Test, had kept faith in him and instead dropped a bowling allrounder with a half-century in the first Test.Blackwood left the second ball he faced, bowled by Shami. The charitable explanation may have been that he trusted the bounce. It was probably more likely, given the form he was in, that he had misjudged the line. The ball bounced over off stump, and didnt miss by much. Not convincing, but a ball survived.Two balls later, he scored his first runs of the series. The ball was full, though not a half-volley, and he went after it and got four runs, even if the ball went squarer than he probably intended, slicing off the face of his bat and racing past point.By the 10th over, West Indies had moved to 21 for 3. Samuels was still on 0, off 23 balls. He had been beaten attempting one wild drive, but had otherwise been leaving everything outside off stump, crabbing across the crease before lifting his bat over his head. He had inside-edged one ball into his pad, and was lucky it hadnt gone to either short leg or short midwicket. He had played the lifting ball well, bat tucked close to his chest and bottom hand barely touching the handle.It was a fraught existence, but there was a method to it.You couldnt say the same about Blackwood, not just yet. He had moved to 13 and had hit two more fours, one a top-edged hook, the other a glance that only seemed half-controlled.But now, Ishant sent down a full ball wide of off stump. Traditional coaching manuals tell you to get your head over the ball to drive, but plenty of great batsmen have driven with an entirely different technique, leaning back and lashing through the ball with a rotary, whiplash bat-swing. Doon Bradman drove that way.dddddddddddd So did Garfield Sobers. And so did George Headley, whose statue - hooking rather than driving - stands outside Sabina Park. Blackwood isnt Bradman or Sobers or Headley, but he played a drive in their style, upper body leaning away from the ball rather than into it, and the ball flashed between bowler and short extra-cover. There was no mid-off.Two balls later, another fullish ball, though nowhere near a half-volley. Once again Blackwood leaned back, flung his arms through the ball, and sent it skimming low over bowler, umpire and boundary rope.The drive is crickets definitive shot, central to the tug-of-war between bat and ball. Most of the other classic attacking shots tend to come off bad balls. Not always so with the drive. Batsmen get rank half-volleys every now and then, but more often, particularly at the highest level, the balls they drive occupy a grey area between good and bad.Its an area of negotiation, a constantly shape-shifting zone full of questions. A skillful bowler poses those questions with great deliberation. How full do I need to land the ball for you to dare to drive me? How far outside off stump are you prepared to reach? How good is your technique?All these questions have different answers, depending on the surface, the atmosphere, and, obviously, the batsman. Some try to force the bowler away from this grey zone by ignoring the bait. Samuels, apart from one indiscretion, seemed to be adopting this approach.Others accept the invitation and try to show the bowler how good, how safe, and how productive their drives are. Almost like theyre saying, Try something else, mate.Blackwood was going after anything remotely in his hitting arc, but this wasnt about showing his mastery of the drive, as much as a recognition that he might as well score as much as he could, as quickly as he could, before the wicket-taking ball came along.The ball soared over the straight boundary, and the conches blared, just as they would when Samuels scored his first run. A smattering of Jamaicans celebrating two Jamaicans raising the small possibility of a fightback.Blackwoods willingness to drive had an immediate effect on Ishant. Perhaps this was what the batsman wanted; three balls later, a short ball, wide outside off stump. Blackwoods response was an uppercut, airy, too close to Amit Mishra at point but going too fast for him to get his hands to the ball.India rang the changes, and Blackwood continued to attack anything remotely drive-able. Down the track to R Ashwin to hit him into the North Stand; a genuine half-volley from Umesh Yadav, smashed through mid-off; flight over the eyeline from Amit Mishra, and a flat-bat wallop for another straight six.That six brought up his half-century, off 47 balls. At the other end, Samuels was batting on 7 off 54.Together, in their contrasting ways, they had given India something to think about. They had rattled India. Umesh dropped short, Samuels uppercut him for six. Then, Blackwood fell with three balls to go for lunch, to a marginal lbw call, but his effect continued to be felt after the break; Ishant kept pitching short to Samuels, and went for four fours in two overs; a pull and three successive square cuts.For perhaps the first time in the series, Indias bowlers were being seriously challenged. But almost inevitably, the challenge was short-lived. Samuels launched R Ashwin for the sweetest six youll ever see, and then, stepping out again, failed to reach the pitch of a ball laden with topspin. Inside edge, caught at short leg.Back walked Samuels, out for 37. A slow start, an earlier finish than he would have liked, but in between, briefly, he had given a Jamaican crowd, his son among them, something to cheer. He had played his shots, perhaps he had even enjoyed himself. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Hockey Jerseys Nike NFL Jerseys China Cheap Nike MLB Jerseys China Wholesale Baseball Jerseys China Wholesale College Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Wholesale Jerseys Near Me Cheap Jerseys Online Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic Cheap Nike NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic MLB Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Throwback Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China ' ' '