EDINBORO — Give a little. Take a lot.

That mantra of the 2023 Slippery Rock University football team played out again Saturday during a 56-18 victory over Edinboro at Sox Harrison Stadium

No. 5 SRU (10-0, 7-0) surrendered a 67-yard scoring drive on the first possession of the game, then fell behind 10-7 when Brayden Lambert’s 29-yard field goal capped Edinboro’s second possession with1:07 left in the opening quarter.

“They hit us with some trick plays early,” freshman linebacker and Pine-Richland graduate Max Heckert said. “We weren’t expecting those. Defense is all about communication.

“We got things straightened out and took care of business from there.”

The Rock scored the game’s next 35 points — its eighth straight game with a points streak of at least 25-0 — in defeating the Fighting Scots for the fifth straight time and 11th time in their last 13 meetings.

“I can’t explain the slow starts,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “I’d love to see us come out of the gate faster. There wasn’t a lot of atmosphere here before the game, maybe that was part of it, I don’t know.

“Once lour offense gets going ... I think the only team that can stop it is ourselves.”

SRU rolled up 670 yards of offense on this day. Brayden Long completed 23 of 27 passes for a career-high 400 yards and five touchdowns. He was perfect on all 10 of his passes in the second half before leaving in favor of Zaire Hart-Hawkins, who threw a touchdown pass himself.

Three of Long’s TD tosses went to Cohen Russell, who caught five passes for a career-best 180 yards on the day. His last score was on a simple shovel pass that Russell broke loose on for a 91-yard score.

Kyle Sheets was blanketed by coverage early in the game and wasn’t even targeted by Long until late in the second quarter. He wound up with five catches for 104 yards, including a back-breaking touchdown late in the first half.

“I believe we have the best corps of receivers in the nation,” Russell said. “Teams want to double up and take away Kyle, we still have myself, Logan Ramper, Kam Kruzelyak and others.”

Edinboro (2-8, 1-6) generated 319 yards of offense on the day, including 231 passing by Isaac Bernard. But the Scots were stopped on a 4th-and-2 at the SRU 22 and missed a 32-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter.

“We didn’t finish,” Edinboro coach Jake Nulph said. “We had our chances. They made a more physical play than us to stop us on that 4th-and-2. That Sheets touchdown catch at the end of the half pretty much sealed the deal.

“In the second half, they pretty much did what they wanted. They’re ranked No. 5 in the country for a reason. That’s a very balanced football team with a lot of weapons.”

On 4th-and-5 from the Edinboro 8, Sheets caught a back-shoulder pass in the left corner of the end zone with seven seconds left in the first half. The play gave The Rock a 28-10 lead going into halftime.

Karns City graduate Nathan Waltman, usually a blocking tight end, got into the scoring act late in the third quarter. He caught a 10-yard TD pass off a play-fake and helped get that drive started with a 22-yard reception in the left flat. Waltman shedded a tackler and got loose down the sideline.

The touchdown was the first of Waltman’s collegiate career.

“I don’t care about scoring touchdowns. I care about winning,” he said. “But that was fun. I was more excited about the positive reaction from my teammates and the sidelines than anything else.”

Donnell Henriquez had an interception for The Rock. Selvin Haynes led the defense with 10 tackles.

Notes: The Rock is 10-0 for the second time in four seasons and second time in program history. ... This is the latest in a season SRU has been ranked in the top 5 since 1999. ... Long has 32 TD passes this season, tied for No. 2 in single-season history at SRU. ... Sheets needs three more receiving yards, Russell 127 more to become the 10th and 11th Rock players to have a 1,000-yard season catching the ball. ... SRU travels to Kutztown for the PSAC championship game this Saturday. Kickoff is at noon. This marks The Rock’s eighth appearance in the title game since the state game was reinstated in 2008. Kutztown will be making its fifth appearance.

Slippery Rock 7 21 14 14 — 56

Edinboro 10 0 0 8 — 18

First Quarter

E — Brian Trobel 125 pass from Isaac Bernard (Brayden Lambert kick), 11:32

SRU — Cohen Russell 15 pass from Brayden Long (Kevin Roberts kick), 7:36

E — Lambert 29 field goal, 1:06

Second Quarter

SRU — Chris D’Or 18 run (Roberts kick), 13:54

SRU — Russell 30 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 6:12

SRU — Kyle Sheets 9 pass from Long (Roberts kick), :07

Third Quarter

SRU — Khalid Dorsey 32 run (Roberts kick), 12:21

SRU — Nathan Waltman 1 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 1:22

Fourth Quarter

E — Thaddeus Standfield 5 pass from Bernard (Amani Bailey pass from Bernard), 12:23

SRU — Russell 91 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 12:01

SRU — Tony Grimes 13 pass from Zaire Hart-Hawkins (Roberts kick), 1:19

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SRU, Khalid Dorsey 9-92, Chris D’Or 6-48, Luke McCoy 7-43, Isiah Edwards 6-41, Kylon Wilson 1-33. Edinboro, Brian Trobel 9-40, Jerry Dinkins 4-14, Thaddeus Standfield 1-12, Keon Anderson 3-11, Isaac Bernard 4-(-1), Teagan Brown 1-5, Thaddeus Standfield 1-12, Angelo Bartolini 1-0.

Passing: SRU, Brayden Long 23-27-400-0, Zaire Hart-Hawkins 1-1-13-0. Edinboro, Isaac Bernard 21-33-231-1.

Receiving: SRU, Cohen Rissell 6-180, Kyle Sheets 5-104, Kam Kruselyak 4-43, Chris D’Or 3-25, Logan Ramper 1-13, Isaiah Edwards 1-3, Khalid Dorsey 1-2, Jawon Hall 1-7, Nathan Waltman 2-23, Tony Grimes 1-13. Edinboro, Amani Bailey 6-85, Thaddeus Standfield 5-65, Jerry Dinkins 5-38, Aaron Hopkins 2-124, Brian Trobel 1-15, Jake L’Heureux 1-6, Keon Anderson 1-8.