Telegraph photo by TOM KING A very determined Bishop Guertin alum Cam Sheedy has made the finals in his first NH State Am, set to face James Pleat this morning at Nashua Country Club.

NASHUA – It’ll be a Panther vs. a Cardinal in Saturday’s 36-hole final of the 117th New Hampshire State Amateur Championship at Nashua Country Club.

You see, NCC’s own James Pleat is a Nashua High School South alum. And his opponent today will be none other than former Bishop Guertin golfer Cam Sheedy.

A red-hot Pleat bested The Shattuck’s Cam Salo of New Ipswich, 4 and 3, in the semifinals on Friday afternoon while equally strong Sheedy topped Harvin Groft, 3 and 2, in the other semi.

“A little re-igniting of the rivalry,” Pleat said. “It’ll be fun.”

Both will be playing in their first State Am final. In fact for Sheedy, who graduated from BG in 2018, this is his first State Am.

“If you had told me in the beginning of the week that I’d be in the finals, I never would have believed it,” Sheedy said. “Pleat) is a local legend at Nashua Country Club. It’s going to be a battle. If I play like I did today, it’s going to be a good match.”

In the morning, Pleat bested Ryan Kohler 1 up in the quarterfinals while Sheedy knocked out another local favorite, NCC’s Jack Brown, 5 and 4.

Today’s 36-hole final is set to start at 7:30 a.m.

It feels like it’s been Pleat’s tournament from the start. He was the two-day medalist, and then pretty much breezed through his matches until he had to rally to beat fellow NCC member Eric McCoy on the second extra hole in Thursday’s round of 16 to make it to Friday.

He wrapped up the quarterfinal win with a long birdie putt on 18, and that set up an unforgettable afternoon semis match in which he had eight birdies in 15 holes. Whenever Salo, who putted well, looked to make a move, Pleat would hold him off. He drove the green on the 378-yard par 4 12th hole, birdied 13, halved 14 and 15 with pars. The latter he saved after he had to take a drop after his drive found the brush near the tennis courts. But he saved par by sinking another tough putt for the clincher.

“Cam was playing great, he was making a lot of putts,” Pleat said. “I tried to do my best to not give him as many openings as possible.

“The putt on 11 was huge. He made an easy birdie. I felt like I had to make it.”

Salo had his taste of extra holes in his 19-hole quarterfinal win over Manchester Country Club’s Ryan Brown.

But he saw first hand that he was facing a hot golfer in Pleat.

“On the back nine, I felt I pressed him a little bit,” said Salo, a former assistant basketball coach at Mascenic High School. “But he came right back with birdies. … Six-under is tough to beat. I think he takes it down if he plays like he did today. … I didn’t think I played too, too bad, but it just wasn’t good enough.”

In the morning, Sheedy was just too tough for Brown, who, like Pleat, narrowly escaped his round of 16 match to make it to the quarters on an extra hole. But it all came crashing down Friday morning for the Alvirne alum and Siena College senior.

Brown was within striking range, only trailing by a hole after 10. But Sheedy took holes 11, 12, 13 and 14 to wrap it up, including a birde on 11 and an eagle on 12.

“Cam played really well,” Brown said. “He rolled in a lot of birdies and that eagle on 12 put me down a bit.

“Then I tried to get aggressive on the next two holes with my putts and was missing my lines. He just played better than me, and that’s what it came down to.”

Sheedy was in a battle with Groft, as he didn’t take the lead for good until he birdied the ninth. But then he captured the 10th as Groft bogeyed, and then went 3-up with a birdie on 14.

“I didn’t quite play as good (as in the quarters),” Sheedy said. “Harvin was an extremely tough match for me. He doesn’t quit. It was great playing against him.”

Proof of what Sheedy said was Groft’s quarterfinal comeback against Stanford-bound William Huang, who was the second seed. Huang was 1 up after 16, but Groft birdied 17 and then Huang fell apart on the 18th tee, putting a shot to the left onto the road out of bounds.

Pleat hasn’t faced that yet, as this has been one of the best weeks of golf he’s ever had.

“For sure,” Pleat said. “It’s definitely the best week I’ve had in this tournament, unchartered territory now being in the finals. But yeah, couple that with the stroke play rounds, it’s been awesome.

“But it’s not over yet. Anything can happen. … This is why you play competitive golf.”

And it should be a very competitive final match.

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