Over the last few weeks, Kennebunk freshman Alden Shields has made an impressive postseason run, which will end this weekend at the 2016 New England Interscholastic Wrestling Championships.

The 106-pound standout’s performance may have come as a surprise to many – including Shields himself – but one person who always believed it was possible was Kennebunk head coach Steve Young.

“Coming into this year, I thought there was a good chance of him making it (to New Englands), I really did,” said Young. “I had a strong feeling he would make it to states, and then you never know because you don’t see a lot of those guys from the North, so you never know what kid is going to come out of there and surprise you, but looking at how it lined up, I thought there was a chance of him getting there.”

When asked about his expectations heading into the season, Shields didn’t have as much confidence as his coach.

“No, not at all … I thought I wasn’t even going to make it through states,” said Shields on whether he thought he would make it to New Englands.

Shields made it to the state tournament with a third-place finish in the Class A South regional tournament and would go on to place fourth at the state meet, which earned him a spot at the qualifier. In the All-State tournament, Shields would need a late rally in his third-place match to secure a trip to New Englands. The standout got a reversal with under 10 seconds left to force overtime and then would put Nokomis’ Josh Brown on his back in the extra period to punch his ticket to Providence.

Young wasn’t surprised to see Shields answer the call in a pressure-filled situation.

“That’s the one thing I can say about Alden, over the years, ever since he’s been involved with our program, he’s always handled the pressure really well,” said Young.

Young believes Shields’ ability to truly enjoy the sport is another reason he has been successful.

“He’s always got a good attitude about it, he has fun with it and he enjoys it. You like to see a kid like that because when they are like that, they don’t get burned out,” said Young.

Shields’ love of the sport is no surprise as he comes from a wrestling family.

“It’s always great because when you have a kid who is involved with a wrestling family, what you tend to see is they get involved at a young age and that’s where you see how he’s excelled,” said Young.

Shields is thrilled to have a dad who is not only a fan of the sport, but also wrestled back in his prime.

“It’s pretty cool because it’s not like having a parent who doesn’t know how you feel when you’re out on the mat. If I ever get in a bad situation, he knows how I feel the whole time,” said Shields of his father, Greg.

The Shields family loves the sport so much that they have a mat in their basement, where the Kennebunk standout can get plenty of extra work in.

“I can wrestle my older brother (Caleb) whenever I want,” said Shields, who is the first Kennebunk wrestler to reach New Englands in eight years.

Young believes the extra time Shields has spent on the mat has helped make him the wrestler he is today.

“He got involved at a young age and he’s been successful all the way up through. He’s just been able to capitalize on that and he goes home and rolls around on the mat, which just gives him more mat time. One of the things we try to tell all our wrestlers is we can teach you everything under the sun, but what matters is that time on the mat and the mat experience,” said Young.

That extra mat time has helped him when it comes to situations like the third-place match at the New England Qualifier, according to Young.

“The more time you spend on the mat is far better than knowing every move in the book because before you get into those situations, you never know. It’s just increased his mat time and it’s why you see when he’s in those tough situations late in the period and he knows how to capitalize because he’s been doing it for so long,” said Young.

One thing that mat time can’t help you with is the ability to fight through adversity – and Shields faced plenty of it this season.

The standout was first sidelined with a concussion midway through the regular season.

“It wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t as bad as the foot,” said Shields of the concussion.

The foot, as Shields puts it, was a broken bone in his foot which came just days before the regional tournament.

Shields battled through the regional meet with the injury, which would become less painful over the next few weeks.

“It’s fine, it still has bruising, but it doesn’t hurt,” said Shields of the foot injury.

Despite having to fight through injuries, Shields has enjoyed his first high school season from the start.

“It’s awesome,” said Shields, who loves the team aspect of the sport. “I definitely like it a lot more than middle school wrestling because it’s just a lot more intense with the team scoring, how like the whole team actually has to strive to beat the other team.”

Shields, who has been working out with several New England qualifiers at the Maine Trappers wrestling club, gives credit to Young and Kennebunk assistant coach Mike Dumas for helping him achieve his goals.

“They have definitely supported me through everything. From day one, they started coaching me all the way up to here and they have just been so awesome and helped me make it to this point,” said Shields, who has been coached by Young and Dumas since his youth wrestling days.

Young was happy to help Shields reach his goals – and he believes the sky is the limit over the next few years.

“He set the goal that he wanted, he wanted to make it here, he did it and I only see him growing from here on out and continuing to get better and continuing to succeed each year,” said Young.

Heading into the New England tournament, Shields is feeling no pressure.

“Just to have fun … overall, just to have fun, and don’t get mad if you lose,” said Shields of his mindset heading into this weekend’s event.

Young is proud of how his freshman phenom has handled himself throughout the entire season.

“I know he’s exhausted … he’s not used to the season lasting this long, which makes it tough for a freshman. He’s taken it all in stride, he’s got a good attitude about it, and like I said, the pressure thing never seems like an issue to him,” said Young.

Shields has simply enjoyed the wild ride this season has brought him – and the biggest thing he has tried to do is be a role model for younger wrestlers, including his younger brother Grisam.

“It feels pretty good to know that some people look up to me … I’ve heard from my mom that parents refer their kids to me like, ‘be like Alden when you are out on the mat,’” said Shields.

Shields and three other locals, Biddeford’s Chris Lantagne, Massabesic’s Leo Amabile and Sanford’s Sam Anderson, will head to Providence on Friday to kick off the two-day event.

NOTE: Look for features on Lantagne, Amabile and Anderson later this week.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.