HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Joe T. Robinson thrives with father, son

Coach Todd Eskola and his son, senior quarterback Hunter, have helped lead Joe T. Robinson to an 11-1 record and the Class 4A quarterfinals for the first time since 2010. The Senators play at Warren on Friday night.
Coach Todd Eskola and his son, senior quarterback Hunter, have helped lead Joe T. Robinson to an 11-1 record and the Class 4A quarterfinals for the first time since 2010. The Senators play at Warren on Friday night.

When Joe T. Robinson lost to Shiloh Christian in the Class 4A semifinals in 2010, 12-year-old Hunter Eskola was distraught.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Joe T. Robinson quarterback Hunter Eskola had to win his starting spot despite being the son of Coach Todd Eskola. “He had to earn it,” Todd Eskola said. “If he wasn’t the best option for the team, he wasn’t going to play.”

"He said, 'When I'm a senior, things are going to be different,' " Hunter's father, Todd Eskola -- Robinson's coach in 2010 and now -- said.

"It was heartbreaking," said Hunter Eskola, then a sixth-grader at Robinson Middle School.

Six years later, Hunter Eskola is playing for his father and has an opportunity to make good on his promise as the Senators' quarterback.

In his first year as the starting quarterback, Eskola, a senior, has completed 148 of 223 passes (66.4 percent) for 3,011 yards with 38 touchdowns and 8 interceptions as Robinson (11-1) has reached the Class 4A quarterfinals for the first time since 2010, facing Warren on Friday night. He's thrown for at least one touchdown pass in every game and has nine 200-yard passing games, including a 403-yard performance at Arkadelphia on Sept. 30.

Hunter Eskola's dream was to play quarterback at Robinson. Now he has an opportunity to lead the Senators to their first state championship since 1980.

"To see him live out his dream and be successful, as a dad, is huge," Todd Eskola said.

Eskola backed up Brennen Johnson the past two seasons as Johnson led the Senators to the Class 4A playoffs. When Johnson's eligibility was exhausted last fall, Todd Eskola told his son the starting position wasn't going to be handed to him.

"He had to earn it," Todd Eskola said. "If he wasn't the best option for the team, he wasn't going to play. I was going to treat him just like every other kid on the team.

"He will not call me Dad at the fieldhouse or at school. I'm Coach. When we get into the truck, his first question every day is, 'What can I do to get better? What did you see at practice I need to work on? Can we watch film tonight?' He wants to watch film. He's a gym rat. He wants to be the best he can be for his teammates."

Hunter Eskola accepted his dad's message.

"I'm not going to sit there and let you guys say I'm the starting quarterback," Hunter Eskola said about his coaches. "I just did what I did the last few years, put my head down and keep on working."

Coaching quarterbacks is one thing. When the quarterback is the coach's son, it's a whole different level.

"It's the hardest thing I've ever done as a coach and the most rewarding thing," Todd Eskola said. "As a coach, you don't ever feel like you can praise your own kid. You feel like you have to be harder on him than everybody else. We preach family here, so it means a lot. I'm more proud than I can put into words of him. He's exceeded expectations all year long."

Hunter Eskola has no problem playing for his father.

"He's very tough on me. He expects a lot from me," Hunter Eskola said. "But that's good, because he wants the best for me and the best for the team."

Earlier this month, Todd Eskola met with Pulaski Academy Coach Kevin Kelley, who coached his son, Zack, a wide receiver, the past three seasons.

"He made the comment he was harder on Zack than he was on the rest of his kids," Eskola recalled Kelley telling him. "Then when he got to the playoffs, he realized I only got a few games left.

"In our case, we have three games left. You start praising him a little more. You start letting him know how proud you are of him. It's been great. It's been fun. He's enjoyed it. His teammates, they're all my sons. It's been a special ride, for sure."

Hunter Eskola was born Oct. 4, 1998, and attended his first Senators game a month later. His father said Hunter has watched film since he was 2 years old. Over the years, Hunter has served as a ballboy and helped chart plays for his dad.

"He's literally lived it," Todd Eskola said.

When asked what he remembered about growing up and watching the Senators, Hunter Eskola said the noise surrounding the games.

"They were coming out onto the field and everybody was cheering for them," Hunter Eskola said. "Everybody was going crazy when they scored. Coach [Martha] Cothren, our announcer, is going, 'Touchdown, Senators."

Hunter Eskola has heard Cothren say "Touchdown, Senators" for his touchdown passes 23 times this season at Charlie George Stadium in Little Rock.

Hunter isn't the only Eskola playing football at Robinson this season. Trent Eskola is a sophomore kicker who has played mainly junior varsity this season.

Todd Eskola, 46, graduated from Robinson in 1989 and has been coaching football at Robinson since 1995, joining the high school staff in 2000 as the offensive coordinator.

Coaching runs deep in the Eskola family.

Eskola's father, Jim, was head coach at Robinson from 2000-04 before retiring. Jim Eskola had coached at Robinson since 1977. Glenn Eskola, Todd's uncle, led Little Rock Fair to the Class AAAAA state championship in 1998.

Hunter Eskola may be the next Eskola to coach, his father said.

"His goal is being a coach someday," Eskola said.

While Hunter Eskola hasn't committed to a college yet, he has a wealth of NCAA Division I talent around him on offense. Seniors Koilan Jackson, a wide receiver, and Myles Fells, a running back, have orally committed to Arkansas and Navy, respectively. Junior wide receiver Nathan Page has received interest from Arkansas, LSU, Texas A&M and Texas, among other schools.

It's Hunter Eskola's selflessness that has impressed his father the most.

"He wants to excel so his teammates can have success," Eskola said. "He's got receivers with D-I offers. He just wants to give them opportunities. It's never been about him. When we go home, he's always talking about his teammates, not himself."

Winning a state championship is important for Hunter Eskola. But winning one for his father is even more important.

"I've been seeing an empty block up there forever," Eskola said of the Senators' state championship sign in their locker room. "I'm just ready to put our year up there."

Sports on 11/24/2016

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