EDINBORO — Momentum was creeping in Edinboro's direction.

Then the Fighting Scots made a mistake on special teams — and the momentum ran off in the other direction as Slippery Rock ran away with a 49-13 PSAC West football victory Saturday at Sox Harrison Stadium.

The Rock (7-0, 3-0) saw a 22-3 lead shrink to 22-13, with SRU forced to punt midway through the third quarter. Before the punt snap could take place, an Edinboro player was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The penalty handed The Rock a first down and enabled SRU to complete an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive. SRU scored touchdowns on its following three possessions as well to secure its 19th consecutive PSAC West triumph.

“That play changed the game,” Edinboro coach Jake Nulph said of the ill-timed penalty. “I didn't get much of an explanation from the official, only that it involved one of my players over in front of the Slippery Rock sideline.

“Obviously, that call hurt us, but we have to respond to it better than we did. You make mistakes against a good team and they make you pay. Credit to Slippery Rock because that's exactly what they made us do.”

SRU showed plenty of balance offensively, spending most of the first half running the football. Rock quarterback Andrew Koester threw only eight passes in the first two quarters, but his team had a 22-10 lead at intermission. Koester wound up throwing for 266 yards and four touchdowns, but the emergence of The Rock running game carried the day.

SRU ran for a season-high 263 yards. Tim Smith had 17 carries for 95 yards, Cinque Sweeting seven carries for 89 yards and two touchdowns. Koester scored The Rock's first points on a 1-yard plunge shortly after Edinboro (1-4, 1-2) was stopped short on a 4th-and-1 play from its own 30-yard line.

“They were doubling up on our wide receivers and pretty much dared us to run the ball,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “The opportunity to run was there and we came up here wanting to get our running game going.

“When their safeties were forced to pull up and help control the run, we were able to use play-action and go over top. I loved our execution today.”

Smith said he figured his name would be called often on Saturday.

“I had to be ready and I was,” Smith said. “Our offensive line was great today. The holes were there and we were getting five or six yards a pop. We needed this. We need to show teams we can run the football to keep them honest.”

Sweeting — who scored on a 58-yard run and caught a 25-yard TD pass — agreed.

“We had to execute our running game,” he said. “When the weather gets bad later in the season, we may have to grind away on the ground. Today, we showed that we can do that.

“As soon as we saw the defense they came out in, this game was on the offensive line. When you're facing a weak box like that ... It was on our big boys' backs. They took care of business.”

Koester threw for only 76 yards in the first half. Thirty of those came on a scoring pass to Jermaine Wynn Jr. The senior receiver wound up with five catches for 102 yards and two TDs.

He was fine with being patient while the running game unfolded.

“We had to take what they were giving us,” Wynn said. “Our line did the job. No doubt, our run set up the passing game today. Everything opened up for us offensively in the second half.”

The Rock defense allowed 20 first downs and nearly 300 yards to the Scots — but surrendered only a field goal in the second half.

Edinboro was without starting quarterback Jordan Castelli. Freshman Isaac Bernard completed 19 passes, but for only 127 yards and was sacked three times. K.D. Roberts intercepted a pass. Chad Kuhn and Munchie Johnson were credited with two of three sacks.

“They ran some Wildcat at us and we knew we were gonna see that,” Lutz said. “They did some nice things against us in some of those packages, but we stiffened when we had to and didn't allow points.”

Nulph said Castello missed the game with “a medical issue.”

“Isaac did a nice job in a tough spot today,” the Edinboro coach said.

The Rock hosts Indiana (Pa.) at 1 p.m. Saturday for homecoming at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

“That atmosphere is going to be electric,” Lutz said. “It's the best rivalry in all of Division II football. I don't care what anybody says. Everybody remembers the IUP game.

“But this game today had the feel of a rivalry itself. I like the way we responded to it.”

Notes: SRU now has a 58-28-7 lead in the series with Edinboro and has won nine of the last 11 meetings. ... Koester has 20 touchdown passes on the season. ... Selvin Haynes led SRU Saturday with 10 tackles. ... Wynn is fourth all-time with 174 catches at The Rock and is second on the all-time list with 29 touchdown catches.

Slippery Rock 8 14 14 13 — 49

Edinboro 3 7 3 0 — 13

First Quarter

SRU — Andrew Koester 1 run (Max Maciejewski pass from DJ Opsatnik), 11:00

E — Vicente Arriagada 35 field goal, 4:40

Second Quarter

SRU — Jermaine Wynn Jr. 30 pass from Koester (Opsatnik kick), 10:40

SRU — Cinque Sweeting 58 run (Opsatnik kick), 5:29

E — Mike Watkins 7 pass from Isaac Bernard (Arriagada kick), 1:19

Third Quarter

E — Arriagada 20 field goal, 9:24

SRU — Sweeting 4 run (Opsatnik kick), 4:43

SRU — Wynn 10 pass from Koester (Opsatnik kick), :00

Fourth Quarter

SRU — Sweeting 25 pass from Koester (Opsatnik kick), 10:31

SRU — Maciejewski 14 pass from Koester (kick blocked), 1:11

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SRU, Tim Smith 17-95, Cinque Sweeting 7-89, Chris D'Or 7-53, Reis Watkins 4-27, Andrew Koester 3-0, TEAM 1-(-1). Edinboro, Anfrenee Williams 19-800, Keshawn Howard 6-49, Reed Martin 1-25, Amani Bailey 1-8, Shileak Livingston 1-4, Howie Reid III 2-3, Isaac Bernard 6-(-5).

Passing: SRU, Andrew Koester 14-24-266-0. Edinboro, Isaac Bernard 19-29-127-1.

Receiving: SRU, Jeermaine Wynn Jr. 5-102, Izzy Adeoti 1-49, Cinque Sweeting 2-47, Henry Litwin 3-22, Kyle Sheets 1-17, Chris D'Or 1-15, Max Maciejewski 1-14. Edinboro, Mike Watkins 3-28, Anfrenee Williams 3-27, Amani Bailey 3-27, Jake L'Heureux 3-20, Jon Long 4-16, Kyle Simms 1-5, Nigel Sealey 1-3, Brodie List 1-1.