By Nathan Pace
Online editor

Manual’s football team may be 2-4, but fans, players and coaches see something other than the season outcome – progress. 

With a 20-game losing streak put to bed in Week 3, Manual football is looking to do more than just survive for another season. The Redskins won consecutive home games in September against Washington 50-0 and Anderson Preparatory Academy 14-6. 

“It’s funny. When we won those two games back-to-back we started having kids come into my office saying, ‘Coach, I want to play football,’ ” coach Robert Orkman said. 

Getting students to try out for the team has been a challenge. Last year’s squad ended the season with just 18 players. First-team offense was also first-team defense and special teams. The 2014 campaign ended at 0-9 as the Redskins were outscored 478-16. Some games were played with running clocks to minimize the carnage. 

“Everyone wants to be a part of a winning program. When you lose wherever you go, no one wants to be a part of that,” Orkman said.

This year’s roster has more than 35 players, giving the Redskins some depth. Orkman said he allowed the players to have a say on whether to accept students who wanted to join after the wins. 

“These are the same guys who would not come out during the summer,” Orkman said on students wanting to join the team this month. “They didn’t want to come out and run and condition.”

The win over Washington was the first since October of 2012. Washington, Manual and Marshall high schools had their football teams shutdown for a couple of years by Indianapolis Public Schools in November of 2009. 

“Our guys felt that was an opportunity to win so they went into the game with a lot of confidence,“ Orkman said. “They were just building off of every play.” 

Orkman came from Marshall, where he was head coach. He is the fourth coach for the ’Skins in four years.
 
“When you have four coaches in four years you have four different philosophies in four years. For them it’s a challenge to believe what we’re saying because they don’t believe we’re going to be here tomorrow.”

Rebuilding Manual’s program is similar to what he did at Marshall, where as the offensive coordinator in 2013 he led the Patriots to their first win in a sectional game in 30 years.

Orkman has made it known to his players that staying at Manual is a priority. 

“They bought into our system; they bought into our philosophy; and they believe that we are going to be here – not just this year – but for the next several years we are going to be here,” he said.
 
While optimism and home attendance are increasing, the Redskins are still experiencing growing pains, losing 60-6 to Howe last week and 31-0 to Providence before that. Orkman sees improvement from the defense and says the offense is slowly catching up. The Redskins play a freshman at quarterback in DeAngelo Dean, something that is almost unheard of in high school football. 

“We have a freshman quarterback (Dean) – a week before our first game – who said, ‘Coach, I want to play quarterback,’ ” Orkman said. “We were like, ‘What?’ He was going to be a starting outside linebacker.”

 The Redskins have just three seniors in Devashia Garrett, Jalen Alexander, Taj Moore. Manual is one of the smallest 3A schools in the state, but it’s a challenge Orkman is ready to accept. 
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“The best thing about Indiana high school football is no matter what your record is, you get to go to the sectionals,” he said. “Anytime there is any type of playoff there is always one Cinderella team. We hope to be that Cinderella team this year.”

By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

Former Beech Grove High School music teacher Scott Bradford misses teaching and inspiring students.
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Bradford left the school where he served as choral director for 26 years to become choral education director for the Indiana State School Music Association, whose headquarters are at 100 E. Thompson Road. He succeeds former Center Grove High School teacher Rusty Biel, who retired after 15 years with the association.

“I miss the students 3,000 percent,” said Bradford while seated in Beech Grove’s Mike McMorrow Auditorium, where he was assisting with the upcoming fall production. “I’m definitely going through a transition because these students have been my job, my life and my passion.”

While at Beech Grove his impact extended from the classroom to behind the stage in the auditorium, state choral finals, choral jazz and performances in China. Bradford was part of the group that planned renovations and improvements to the auditorium and expanded music classrooms at Beech Grove.

He split his duties in August between the association and the school, where he voluntarily helped successor Michael Dean in the transition.

Bradford was choir director and assistant band director at Forest Parke in Dubois County for three years before his tenure at BGHS. He and BGHS drama director Andrew Busch were among the co-founders of the Beech Grove Theatre Guild.  

He knows his influence at the ISSMA expands from the classroom to all music students in secondary schools throughout Indiana.

“This is a great position because I can assist more kids than I ever could at just one high school building,” Bradford said. “I just won’t have that direct contact.”

Bradford’s duties include choral and band responsibilities. He has been assisting with organizing marching band contests, which are underway, as well as planning for choral contests in the spring.

Whether a festival or competitive performance with musicians or choral, the association secures venues, hires judges, coordinates facility usage and, most significantly, provides assessments for the performers and trains judges.

“A large part of what we do is outreach to teachers,” Bradford said. “We help the teachers who help the students with what is expected.”

Beech Grove athletic director Matt English compares Bradford’s duties as being an athletic director for music on a statewide level.

The ISSMA primarily educates band and music teachers in making assessments with the emphasis upon performance. The organization develops adjudication sheets for judges, who also serve as guidelines for students in band, choir and vocal jazz. The agency is guided by an executive board.

The inaugural statewide vocal jazz competition next spring is an outgrowth of Bradford’s introduction of vocal jazz at Beech Grove several years ago and ongoing corroboration with Butler University that led to student performances in China in 2011.

Choral competitions through the ISSMA are for all schools in one class, unlike the marching band contests.
“There’s no class system so it is really a big deal for a small school to make it to the state finals in choral,” Bradford said. 

“I’ve learned so much in a short time,” Bradford said after being with ISSMA for one month. “This is the place where I want to be able to continue the professional development of music in the state.”

The agency collaborates with a variety of institutions, including the National Association of Music Educators, Indiana Choral Directors Association, American Choral Directors Association and band organizations.
Bradford is married and has two grown children.