The Richmond Raiders picked up where it left off when they last played a Southeastern Conference game.

Labarrian Jones and Walter Ellerbe combined for 281 yards rushing and four touchdowns to lead the Raiders to a 49-20 victory over Hoke in the SEC opener for both teams.

The Raiders (6-1, 1-0) had total of 437 yards of offense in the contest.

Jones set the tone for Richmond by running 54 yards for a touchdown on the Raiders first offensive touch of the game.

The Bucks (1-6, 0-1) responded to Richmond’s initial score when Vernon Brandon connected with Jamelle McNair on a 4-yard touchdown pass, but the extra point bounced off the left upright as the Raiders led 7-6 with 7:56 left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Kaleen Stanback took an option pitch from Tedarrius Wiley and run 10 yards for the touchdown to extend the Raiders advantage to 14-6 at the 10:42 mark.

Hoke once again answered by marching 61 yards in five plays, which was capped by a Brandon 6-yard run. On the 2-point conversion, Brandon hit McNair for the successful try to knot the game at 14-14 with 8:48 remaining in the first half.

Richmond retook the lead for good 33 seconds later when Wiley connected with Quayshawn Dumas on a 47-yard touchdown pass to give the Raiders a 21-14 lead with 8:15 left in the second quarter.

On the Hoke’s ensuing possession Richmond’s Bootsie Dawkins stepped in front of a Brandon pass and returned the interception 50 yards to the Bucks’ 30-yard line. Jones scored on the next play from 30 yards out to extend the Raiders’ lead to 28-14 with 2:47 left until halftime.

“They’ve been giving us the run so we kept doing it,” Richmond coach Paul Hoggard said. “Our game plan was to keep them off the field and it was pretty simple as that.”

Before halftime, Hoke managed to put together an eight-play drive started at its own 32 to trim the deficit to 28-20 at halftime. Brandon once again capped the drive by running in from six yards out.

After the halftime break, the teams exchanged turnovers before Wiley capped a seven play drive with a 12-yard touchdown scamper to push the Raiders ahead 35-20 with 5:10 left in the third quarter.

Hoke turned the ball back over to Richmond on downs on its next possession and the Raiders responded. Jones capped a 5-play drive with his third touchdown of the game from 2-yards out with 1:33 left in the third period.

Following a Buck punt, Ellerbe once again capped a quick scoring strike by the Raiders. Ellerbe dashed into the end zone from three yards out to end a three-play scoring drive and close out the scoring in the contest.

Hoggard praised his defensive unit for blanking the Bucks in the second half and recording three sacks.

“Coach (James) Johnson did a great job of mixing it up with a lot of different looks and we got better pressure in the second half,” Hoggard said.

Richmond returns to action Friday at home against Purnell Swett.