@HuskerlandBob Sez: Please enjoy this feature story published late in the 2018 season. Timo Sikes is one of the key two-way players for Grand Island, which tonight is making its first appearance in a Class A state final since 1990.

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My guess is Timo Sikes was one heckuva Boy Scout. Eagle Scout, probably.

I know this, when the Grand Island senior talks about the values he and his team put above all else, including the wins, I believe every word he says.

“Our team values four very important ideals - honor, courage, commitment and loyalty,” says Timo, sounding a little bit like Jack Nicholson on the stand at the end of the movie A Few Good Men. “What also drives this team is that we are 11 guys playing like 12, the 12th representing our team as a whole. In the end that’s what it means to be an Islander football player.”

It’s OK, press pause to let the shiver leave your spine.

Not only is Sikes a wide-eyed believer in Islander football he’s also played a pretty big part in getting the team to 6-0 and a No. 3 ranking in Class A, according to Huskerland Prep Report. Not bad for a team not ranked in the preseason.

“We have some talented guys on our team but that isn’t what has helped us elevate our game this season,” says Timo, whose team finished 2017 with a 6-4 record and a first-round playoff exit. “This team has an added edge. We are just a bunch of honey badgers who play fast, play strong and play aggressive. It’s who we are.”

Who his Islanders are get their most stern test of the season on Thursday as they will travel to face 5-1 Millard West, a state championship program with some pretty lofty goals and ideals of its own. Grand Island got to this place, being all unbeaten after six weeks of the regular season, in large part to a huge confidence boost in Week 1. It came in the form of a shocking 46-0 win over another state champion program, arch rival Kearney.

“That Kearney game was a great win for our program, our school and our community,” says Timo. “We have a lot of respect for them but we had a great off-season and we knew coming into that game we were going to be fully prepared, fully ready to win.

“Winning that game was no fluke, no surprise.”

Nor were the five that followed it. Sikes is right in the middle of things as the team’s starting fullback and linebacker, even at 5-10 and 180. Naturally his size isn’t an issue to Timo - he’s a football player, plain and simple - and his contributions have included averaging 7.5 yards per carry and scoring five touchdowns.

And caring. A lot.

“What has really driven our offense has been our line play,” says Timo of a GISH unit that is averaging a smokin’ hot 54 points per game. “Our linemen block like they care and we also have a defense that has such heart and plays so strong. Combined we have been a pretty complete team.

Timo got tangled up in this crazy thing we call football back in fourth grade when his future football mentor, GISH head coach Jeff Tomlin, involved him in the Junior Islanders football program. “From the start I bought into the culture that surrounds Islander football and I have great appreciation and trust in Coach Tomlin and all my coaches, really.”

Born in Norfolk, Timo and his family moved to Grand Island when he was 18 months old. His younger brother, Jackson, is also on the Grand Island football roster and they have a younger sister, Elizabeth, who is in the seventh grade. His biggest enjoyment outside of school and sports comes from him serving as fifth-grade Sunday School teacher at his church, where he attends church twice a week.

Also a committed student Timo has earned a 4.02 GPA, ranking him 15th in a class of 512, and membership in the National Honor Society. Once in college, UN-Kearney or UN-Omaha are his likely landing spots, Timo plans to study business finance with the idea of eventually earning his MBA.

With his love of all things Grand Island Senior High football it is only natural Timo Sikes takes seriously his role as a respected senior leader.

“It’s my turn, all of use seniors turn, to carry the torch, keep it lit and pass it on to the classes coming up behind us. We are adding another brick to our program’s great football culture, one win at a time.”