AOTW: Hutchison’s Dylan Skaggs ends prep soccer career with on- and off-field honors

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) - For Hutchison High School senior Dylan Skaggs, remembering the times before he was playing soccer is difficult to do.

“I think I started in kindergarten,” he recalled. “I played recreational soccer for a couple years; my dad coached a team, and one year, I got into competitive soccer with the Eclipse.”

Now — after four years on the field for the Hawks and countless more practices and drills — his time on the pitch is officially over.

“It’s gone by super fast,” he said, “much faster than I thought.”

Skaggs played his final season in blue and white this year, ending a soccer career that began during his early childhood.

Since then, the Fairbanks product has become a staple for the Hutchison program. In his final campaign for the school, the Hawks forward went on to lead the team in goals scored.

Despite the accolades on the field, Skaggs — a student-athlete in every sense of the word — said his academic work always came first.

“Academics has always come first in my life,” he said. “Soccer has been a close second, but I’ve always strived to do my best.”

In the classroom, Skaggs finished high school with a 4.08 grade point average, which also earned him the title of valedictorian at Hutchison.

“Graduation was so much fun,” he said, “getting to see my classmates that I’ve gone to school with the last four years.”

Standing at the podium, ready to claim the diploma he worked tirelessly for, Skaggs left the class of 2025 with a final message.

“Don’t wait until the last minute to make the most of every moment,” he told his peers. “Start early, fail early, learn early.

“Who knows?” he said. “Maybe we’ll all finish with something closer to perfection than we expected.”

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