To Serve & Protect

Bloomfield Hills Lahser two-sport star Andrew Gikas has flown to the next level.

On Thursday evening, Gikas committed to play football in college at Air Force.

A two-year all-league picks on both sides of the line for the Knights, the 6-foot-4 250-pound workhorse in the trenches racked up 92 tackles, seven sacks and close to two dozen hurries back in the fall, spearheading Lahser into the playoffs for a second consecutive year.

During the winter sports season, Gikas is a no-nonsense Sir-GRIND-A-LOT in the post for the Knights basketball team, currently one of the best prep hoop squads in the area. As a junior on the hardwood last year, he was one of the emotional leaders on a cage crew that won both league and district titles.

Oh, did I mention what he does in the classroom? Well, he takes no prisoners with his studies as well, sporting a 4.0 GPA.

Gikas' landing at the Air Force out in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is part of a mini-trend in Oakland County of local high school gridiron studs that have taken their talent on the football field to an American Service Academy. He's the third recent prepster to commit to the Falcons program which competes in the Mountain West Conference, following in the footsteps of running back Marques Stevenson (Lake Orion) in 2011 and placekicker Ruairi McGreevy (Pontiac Notre Dame Prep) in 2012.

Air Force (6-6) is readying to tangle with Rice in the Bell Helicopter Armed Services Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas on December 29.