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WINSTON-SALEM (AP) — Ted Stachitas didn't see any open receivers left, so he ran right — all the way to the end zone.

His Wake Forest teammates got in on the act, too, and it added up to a big night for their ground game.

The Demon Deacons had 415 yards rushing and six touchdowns on the ground in their 53-13 rout of Presbyterian on Thursday night, their highest-scoring opener since 1941.

"You can't rush for over 400 and not be pleased about it," coach Jim Grobe said.

Stachitas finished with 160 total yards in his first college start, was 7 of 13 for 84 yards passing in two quarters of work and rushed for 76 more — including the impressive 34-yard touchdown run that got things started.

Backup tailback Josh Harris scored twice, Alex Frye returned an interception 44 yards for an early score and receiver Devon Brown took an end-around 85 yards for a fourth-quarter TD — the fourth-longest rush in school history.

Wake Forest gained 509 total yards, led 21-0 before allowing the outmanned Blue Hose a first down and each of its three tailbacks on the depth chart found the end zone at least once.

Josh Adams scored early from 14 yards out, Brandon Pendergrass had a 16-yarder and Harris added a 3-yard TD to give the Demon Deacons a 35-7 halftime lead. Harris added a 46-yard touchdown run with 1:25 remaining.

By then, though, the starting quarterback's night had long been over, and coach Jim Grobe played three other backups — including promising freshman Tanner Price.

"I think by the time we hit halftime, we felt like we'd seen out of him what we needed," Grobe said. "And we felt we're not going to go through a season without playing (Price)."

Receiver Derrick Overholt threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Michael Ruff on a trick play, and Miley was 18 of 34 for 165 yards for Presbyterian, which is in the fourth year of its move to Division I. The Blue Hose were playing their first game against a team from one of the six power conferences.

It doesn't get any easier for them next week. Next up: Clemson.

"I think this experience playing here tonight will help us next week," Blue Hose coach Harold Nichols said. "That's one of the things, making this transition. We've set these kind of challenges."

The biggest challenge in Winston-Salem this summer was at the quarterback position, where the Demon Deacons were trying to figure out who would replace Riley Skinner, the holder of just about every meaningful record in the media guide.

Stachitas, who took a few snaps in one game last season but did not attempt a pass, was No. 3 on the depth chart at the end of spring practice but won the job with his consistent play during preseason camp.

Once he finally got into a game — albeit, one against subpar competition — he showed some indications that he might be up to the task. Then again, replacing supposedly irreplaceable players is nothing new for Stachitas, who succeeded Tim Tebow at their Florida high school.

And right away, he showed he might have picked up some of his old prep teammate's moves.

On the third snap of the game, Stachitas looked left and found nobody open. So he tucked it under and ran to the right, juking past defensive lineman Keyadd Miller and dashing down the sideline for his first career touchdown, giving Wake Forest a 7-0 lead less than 90 seconds into the season.

"Usually, when you roll out one way, you're not supposed to go back the other way," Stachitas said. "But I kind of got lucky."

Adams scored Wake Forest's second touchdown one possession later, and Frye made it 21-0 later in the first quarter.

He jumped in front of Anderico Bailey, picked off Miley's pass and raced untouched into the end zone for the safety's second touchdown of his career. His TD off an interception in last year's finale at Duke was the Demon Deacons' lone defensive score of a disappointing 2009.

"He played like a guy that's got a lot behind him and wants to go out and play well," Grobe said.

They added two more defensive points in the third quarter. After Miley's 18-yard touchdown pass to Bailey, Kyle Wilber blocked the ensuing extra point and Kenny Okoro returned it for the first defensive two-point conversion in school history, making it 37-13.

Presbyterian 0 7 6 0—13
Wake Forest 21 14 2 16—53

Wake—Stachitas 34 run (Newman kick), 13:31.
Wake—Adams 14 run (Newman kick), 8:29.
Wake—Frye 44 interception return (Newman kick), 4:42.
Wake—Pendergrass 16 run (Newman kick), 3:27.
Pres—Ruff 68 pass from Overholt (C.Miller kick), 3:12.
Wake—J.Harris 3 run (Newman kick), 1:01.
Pres—A.Bailey 18 pass from Miley (kick blocked), 11:40.
Wake—2-point defensive conversion by Okoro, 11:40.
Wake—Brown 85 run (Newman kick), 11:18.
Wake—FG Newman 36, 4:13.
Wake—J.Harris 46 run (run failed), 1:25.
A—28,205.

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs — Presbyterian 18, Wake 23
Rushes-yards — Presbyterian 34-70, Wake 50-415
Passing — Presbyterian 292, Wake 94
Comp-att-int — Presbyterian 24-42-1, Wake 10-24-0
Return yards — Presbyterian 0, Wake 44
Punts-avg. — Presbyterian 9-37.9, Wake 5-40.4
Fumbles-lost — Presbyterian 2-0, Wake 2-1
Penalties-yards — Presbyterian 7-65, Wake 6-65
Time of possession — Presbyterian 32:11, Wake 27:49

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Presbyterian — Dendy 16-49, L.Byrd 8-19, Moreland 1-11, Sumner 0-9, Ruff 1-(minus 2), Miley 8-(minus 16).

Wake Forest — Brown 2-91, Stachitas 10-76, J.Harris 6-74, Bohanon 6-47, Adams 8-43, Pendergrass 7-38, Price 3-17, Cross 3-15, S.Jones 3-12, Campanaro 2-2.

PASSING

Presbyterian — Miley 18-34-1-165, M.Gary 4-6-0-44, Overholt 2-2-0-83.

Wake Forest — Stachitas 7-13-0-84, Price 1-7-0-4, Cross 1-3-0-3, S.Jones 1-1-0-3.

RECEIVING

Presbyterian — J.Cole 6-76, Ruff 4-122, Bumgarner 4-33, A.Bailey 3-38, McKoy 3-7, L.Byrd 2-13, Dendy 2-3.

Wake Forest — Davis 3-12, Ma.Williams 2-39, J.Williams 1-23, Brown 1-9, Campanaro 1-5, C.Ford 1-4, Adams 1-2.