Telegraph photo by TOM KING James Pleat, right, is congratulated by fellow NCC member Eric McCoy after he advanced to the quarterfinals on the second playoff hole on Thursday.

NASHUA – And then there were eight.

C’mon down, James Pleat (Nashua Country Club), Ryan Koehler (Hooper Golf Course), Ryan Brown (Manchester Country Club), and Cameron Salo (The Shattuck).

You’re in one quarterfinal bracket today for the NHGA’s 117th State Amateur Championship at NCC.

Join them, William Huang (Golf Club of NE), Harvin Groft (The Oaks), Cameron Sheedy (Windham CC) and Jack Brown (NCC). You’re all in the other bracket.

And there you have it, the survivors of a hot, steamy, grueling Thursday of golf that produced some drama and some disappointment, but was never short on intrigue.

Pleat faces Kohler at 7:30 a.m., while Ryan Brown and Sahlo tee off at 7:40.

Huang and Groft are at 7:50, and Brown faces Sheedy at 8. The winners then meet in the semis in the afternoon.

“In this tournament, you’re going to run into guys who are going low,” Pleat said. “There’s so many good players in this tournament.”

Both James Pleat and Brown literally survived. Both enjoyed easy wins in the morning round of 32 – Brown topped Matt Grover 8 and 6 and Pleat bested Laconia’s Ethan Emerson 6 and 4.

But there they both were,staring defeat in the face on the 17th tee about an hour apart. First, Pleat was down one vs. fellow NCC member Eric McCoy, but McCoy put his tee shot out of bounds to the right , Pleat took the hole and eventually they went to extra holes where on No. 2 McCoy got into all sorts of trouble in the woods on the left. Victory to Pleat.

Brown’s opponent, Sky Meadow’s Rick Moreau, did the same thing on 17 after being up one thanks to Brown three-putting 16.

“That’s my miss sometimes,” the Nashuan said. “I get a little too quick with my swing.”

Moreau missed a match winner by an inch on 18, and then hit into the woods on the first playoff hole, which he desperately wanted to win because he knew Brown would be a long hitter on the par five second hole. Match to Brown.

“It definitely feels really good,” Brown, the Siena College senior from Hudson said. “I think it’s good because it kind of humbled me a little bit. I was making careless mistakes.”

Pleat felt in his match, the gift on the 17th tee was unexpected.

“That really surprised me on 17,”Pleat said. “(McCoy’s) a really solid player. And I’m 100 percent not surprised he played well. It would be a tough out here.

“When I found out he won (in the morning) it was going to go 18. There’s always going to be one of these matches when you’re down late, or you’re really grinding the whole way through.”

“Seventeen was tough,” McCoy said. “I just hit behind the ball a little bit. It just spun out on me.”

McCoy couldn’t get a 14-foot birdie putt miss on the first playoff hole “out of my head” and that was that on the second playoff hole.

Pleat has never played Kohler before in match play, but knows he faces stiff competition.

Other locals on Thursday failed to survive. The chances for Pleat vs. Pleat ended when James’ father, Phil, lost in the afternoon to Sheedy 6 and 5 after beating Brett Wilson 2 and 1 in the morning.

Green Meadow’s Griffin Brown beat Derryfield’s Matt Burroughs 5 and 3 in the morning but fell to Groft 4 and 3 in the round of 16.

NCC’s Jake Poitras fell to Sky Meadow’s Josh Farmer 3 and 2 in the morning round, but Farmer fell to Kohler 3 and 2.

There won’t be a back-to-back championship for Passaconaway’s John DeVito as he lost to Portsmouth veteran Craig Steckowych 3 and 1.

“Tough one,” DeVito said. “I got down early, hitting these snap hooks off the tee, put me in a bad spot.”

He was all square through 14 but Steckowych made birdies on 15 and 16 and closed him out on 17. But the afternoon was different for the veteran, who fell to

Other veterans lost as well. Derryfield’s Dan Arvanitis lost to Ryan Brown 2 and 1, while Concord’s Bob Mielcarz lost to Sheedy 6 and 4.

Thus for NCC and the Nashua area, two locals left, Jack Brown and James Pleat. And both were perhaps a good tee shot on 17 away from being eliminated as well.

“I came out on the right end of it,” Pleat said, “but it could’ve just as easily been a different outcome.”

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For complete rounds of 32 and 16 results, go to https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/2564337.

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