SLIPPERY ROCK — Cohen Russell ignited the flame. Slippery Rock’s defense kept it burning.

And the Slippery Rock University football team stayed on fire for the entire first half in rolling to a 42-10 season-opening victory over Wayne State (Mich.) Saturday night at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

Russell figured prominently in each of SRU’s first three touchdowns as The Rock exploded for a 21-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. SRU had a 35-3 lead at halftime.

“I can’t remember us starting out with a first half like that,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “We played well on offense, defense and special teams, coming up with big plays in each.”

It all started with Russell, who returned the opening kickoff 58 yards to the Wayne State 42. Seven plays later, Noah Grover connected with Kyle Sheets for a 14-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead.

Russell then returned a Warrior punt 36 yards to the Wayne State 32. Chris D’Or scored on a 32-yard run on the next play. On SRU’s next possession, Grover found Russell streaking deep across the middle and hit him for a 74-yard touchdown pass. With 5:55 left in the first quarter, The Rock had a 21-0 lead.

“My blocking gave me the holes and I just had to run through them,” Russell said. “I could feel the impact of those early returns. I could feel the energy on our sidelines after that (game-opening) kick return.”

Russell began his college career at SRU, transferred to Lackawanna, then returned to The Rock for his junior season this year.

“I missed the family atmosphere, the team aspect that’s here,” Russell said.

Grover wound up completing 20 of 28 passes for 276 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters of action. He took a seat after the third period with his team ahead, 42-3.

“I read the defense at the line of scrimmage. I’m not a progressions quarterback,” Grover said. “I see what the defense is giving us and with all the weapons we have on offense, it makes my job easy.

“On the (Russell touchdown), I saw them bringing the safety in. That post was going to be open behind him.”

“And Cohen Russell can just plain fly,” Lutz chimed in.

SRU’s defense did its part, limiting Wayne State’s vaunted rushing attack to 137 yards and just over three yards per carry. Returning 1,000-yard rusher Myren Harris had just 27 yards on 13 carries.

“Slippery Rock did a great job of defensing our run,” Warriors coach Paul Winters said. “They attacked our motion man and shut it down. Once we fell behind 21-0, that took us out of our offense.

“We missed tackles on special teams. That was disappointing. We practice hard on that phase of the game all summer.”

Jeff Marx intercepted a tipped flare pass for The Rock to set up SRU’s fourth touchdown of the first half. Ali Abdul-Hakim picked off a pass in the second half and returned it 21 yards, setting up a 16-yard scoring burst by Isaiah Edwards.

Wayne State starting quarterback Josh Kulka left the game early in the second half with an apparent leg injury. Elijah Taylor finished the game behind center, the Warrior quarterbacks combining to complete just 12 of 36 passes for 104 yards.

“I wasn’t told if Josh was OK to come back in or what exactly happened to him,” Winters said. “I wasn’t going to put him back out there anyway. They were beating his brains in and I wasn’t gonna subject him to anymore.

“We did drop a few of passes, too. College football players at this level should be catching the ball.”

SRU travels to West Chester Saturday for a noon kickoff.

“I was a little surprised we came out and played as consistently as we did,” Grover admitted. “That’s a credit to everybody. I thought we mixed things up well.”

Notes: SRU won its 14th straight home opener and 13th consecutive opener overall. The Rock has now won 26 consecutive night games as well ... Russell caught two passes on the night, both for touchdowns. ... LB Btrandon Tuck-Hayden led The Rock with 10 tackles. A transfer, he started for Wayne State and wa one of its captains last year. ... Saturday night marked Wayne State’s first game in Pennsylvania since traveling to Mercyhurst in 2007. It was the Warriors’ first season opener in the Keystone State since 1999, also at Mercyhurst.

Wayne State 0 3 0 7 — 10

Slippery Rock 21 14 7 0 — 42

First Quarter

SRU — Kyle Sheets 14 pass from Noah Grover (DJ Opsatnik kick), 12:12

SRU — Chris D’Or 32 run (Opsatnik kick), 10:18

SRU — Cohen Russell 74 pass from Noah Grover (Opsatnik kick), 5:35

Second Quarter

WS — Griffin Milovanski 41 field goal, 14:55

SRU — Grover 1 run (Opsatnik kick), 10:54

SRU — Russell 8 pass from Grover (Opsatnik kick), :55

Third Quarter

SRU — Isaiah Edwards 16 run (Opsatnik kick), 1:51

Fourth Quarter

WS — Nick Poterack 8 pass from Elijah Taylor (Milovanski kick), 11:45

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Wayne State, Kendall Williams 7-45, Elijah Taylor 6-32, Myren Harris 13-27, Manny Harris 1-20, Te’Avion Warren 3-8, Karmi Mackey 3-8, Josh Kulka 7-(-3). SRU, Chris D’Or 7-52, Isaiah Edwards 4-24, Tim Smith 7-19, Chris Wells 6-18, Noah Grover 3-18.

Passing: Wayne State, Josh Kulkas 5-16-34-1, Elijah Taylor 7-20-70-1. SRU, Noah Grover 20-28-276-0, Brayden Long 0-1-0-0.

Receiving: Wayne State, Nick Poterack 4-34, Manny Harris 3-36, Kendall Williams 2-13, Te’Avion Warren 1-11, Myren Harris 1-9, D’Marco Singleton 1-1. SRU, Jacob Odom 8-97, Max Maciejewski 4-29, Kyle Sheets 3-37, Cohen Russell 2-82, Kenyon Johnson 2-0, Jawon Hall 1-31.