Senators in mode to reload
The 11th in a series profiling Pulaski County high school football teams.
Joe T. Robinson isn’t satisfied with advancing to the Class 4A quarterfinals.
Coach Todd Eskola has taken his team to the second round and the quarterfinals, respectively, over the past two seasons, where the Senators have lost on the road at Pea Ridge (2015) and Warren (2016).
Robinson, which finished 11-2 last season with both losses coming to Warren and 7-4A Conference champion Nashville, opens its season at 5 p.m. today against Hot Springs Lakeside at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium.
Eskola said he knows that regular-season success isn’t enough at the west Little Rock school anymore, even if the Senators have won 20 games since the beginning of 2015.
“We felt like last year when we played Warren, it was for a state championship game,” Eskola said. “To be that close, it motivates you.”
Eskola said a foundation is being built at Robinson.
“Not just the kids we have this year, but the kids on down, are talented,” Eskola said. “Now that we’re here, we want to stay put. We feel that we deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as a Nashville, a Warren, a Stuttgart and those programs that win year in and year out. That’s what we want to establish ourselves as.”
To do so, Robinson will rely on a new starting quarterback for the second consecutive
season.
Last year it was Hunter Eskola, the coach’s son, who took over at quarterback for threeyear starter Brennen Johnson. Eskola passed for 3,095 yards with 38 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.
This season, it’s junior Greyson Tackett’s turn to lead the Senators.
Tackett passed for 171 yards last season backing up Hunter Eskola, now at the University of Central Arkansas.
“He’s doing a real good job,” Todd Eskola said of Tackett. “We feel good about our quarterback position.”
Senior wide receiver Nathan Page, a two-way player, is one of the Senators’ top returners.
Page caught 45 passes for 1,118 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. Eskola said the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,
Arkansas State and Mississippi State, among others, have been recruiting Page, who enters his third season as a starter.
At free safety. Page recorded 47 tackles, including 32 unassisted, and had 2 interceptions last season. Also, senior safety Brandon Hudson (5 interceptions) returns for the Senators.
Robinson’s nonconference schedule includes Lakeside today, Central Arkansas Christian on Sept. 8 and Baptist Prep on Sept. 15. Then, the 7-4A Conference schedule comes calling for the Senators, with key games Sept. 29 at Arkadelphia and Oct. 6 against Nashville at Charlie George Stadium in Little Rock.
“Our goal by the time we hit conference is to run at all cylinders,” Eskola said.