LYNN — The Salem football team didn’t run a single offensive play in the first quarter of its Div. 6 semifinal against Stoneham on Friday at Manning Field. Normally that would probably result in the Witches having to play catch-up.

That wasn’t the case, however, as Salem used big play after big play to overcome the Spartans ball-control attack.

Stoneham ran 67 plays compared to Salem’s 29 but a pair of kick return touchdowns and a three-touchdown performance from Devante Ozuna propelled the Witches to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1999 with a 38-14 win.

“I am so proud of these kids,” Salem coach Matt Bouchard said. “The COVID year was hell for these kids bit they were a bright light and that helped propel them to where they are now.”

The question coming in was if Stoneham’s ball control could keep Salem’s high-powered offense off the field long enough to keep the score in check. Problem for Stoneham was that the Witches can beat you in many ways.

That was shown on the opening kick when Quinn Rocco Ryan raced up the right sideline for an 89-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead just 16 seconds into the game.

Stoneham’s response was a 54-yard drive in three minutes that ended with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Sam Sereda from Matthew Tran, who added the conversion rush to make it 8-7.

On the ensuing kick, Pujols took it at the 31 and raced down the left sideline for another Salem score and a 13-8 lead with 7:46 left in the first quarter

Stoneham then went to work on the clock via a 15-play drive which Tran capped with a three-yard keeper. Kevin Gilmartin’s rush gave Stoneham a 14-13 lead and Salem had yet to run a play.

Getting the ball at midfield following a short kick, Salem went backwards on first down. On the next play, Grimes flared one out to Ozuna and he weaved his way through the defense for a 53-yard score that gave Salem the lead for good.

“Devante has such a great skill set. He slides and glides so nicely and is a lot quicker than he looks,” Bouchard said.

The Spartans fumbled on the next series with Ozuna recovering on the Stoneham 37. His 22-yard run moments later set up Shane Field’s one-yard plunge that made it 25-14 with 5:45 left in the half.

The Spartans drove inside the Salem 20 on the next series but an incompletion on their 39th play of the half turned the ball over on downs with :51 left.

Instead of killing the clock, Salem elected to call a screen to Ozuna. It was a wise move as he took it 81 yards to make it 32-14 at the break.

Stoneham got the ball to begin the second half but turned it over following a failed fake punt. The Witches were glad to take the short field as Ozuna’s third score of the night, this one a 17-yard run that saw him carry a Stoneham defender from the five-yard line into the end zone, made it 38-14.

From there, the Salem defense snuffed out Stoneham’s last two drives to book their ticket to Gillette.

“I am so happy that these kids weren’t satisfied after last season,” Bouchard said. “We had a good year and they took the extra steps to get better. They worked like dogs and that’s the difference. They had goals and they wanted to reach them.”