Eighty-one yards. 60 seconds. A Northeastern Conference title and a berth in the 1994 Division 3A EMass Super Bowl on the line.

For Salem junior quarterback Sean Stellato, this was a scenario he long dreamed about.

“It was a brutally windy day and I remember the field was frozen,” Stellato said. “I trotted out on the field after Beverly scored to take the lead, looked up in the stands and saw my dad holding up the videotape ‘Why Eagles Soar.’ It was about my hero Doug Flutie and the 1984 Boston College team.”

Stellato trotting onto the field was something few envisioned 11 months prior. After a sophomore year where he was firmly entrenched deep on the depth chart, Stellato walked into head coach Ken Perrone’s office and announced his intentions of being the starting quarterback in 1994.

“I’ve known Sean since he was little and he was always a determined kid,” said Perrone, 90. “I told him that right now he’s the fourth-string quarterback and the only thing I would promise him is a fair opportunity to compete for the job. To his credit, he worked his butt off and did all the little things he needed to do and wound up eventually playing.

“If he walked into my house today and told me he was going to walk on water, I’d believe it. He said he was going to write a book and did it (No Backing Down), he said he was going to be my quarterback and he did it. That was the type of kid Sean was — never bet against him.”

Salem wasn’t expected to be a contender early on in the always-competitive Northeastern Conference. The Witches, however, surprised some teams early in the season before controversy surrounded the program. On Halloween Day, Salem teachers went on a strike which would last 11 days.

Perrone was a teacher at the time but the union gave him their blessing to continue coaching. School superintendent Ed Curtin was opposed to the move and suddenly the police were involved, coming down to a practice field away from the school to serve him with a cease-and-desist order to stop coaching.

“It was crazy, we had broken into the school to get our equipment and went down to a local field to practice,” Stellato said. “When the police showed up, kids were crying because we didn’t know what was going to happen to us. Coach really was a father figure to a lot of kids on the team

“Coach looked at us, defied the order and said ‘let’s practice.’ To this day, I will always commend Ken Perrone for his heroic actions. He stuck up for what believed in, he knew it was probably going to cost him his coaching job (Perrone was fired after the year and never coached another high school football game) but he was there for us. If he obeyed the order, he probably keeps his job and would have gone on to become the state’s all-time winningest coach (Perrone’s 256 wins still rank 14th all-time in Massachusetts), but he put us ahead of him.”

The off-field drama did nothing to deter Salem on the field. In the days following the cease-and-desist order, the Witches stunned NEC power Swampscott 16-8, then came the miracle against Winthrop. Trailing 21-14 with seconds remaining, Stellato threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Manny DePina, then Elvin Rodriquez converted a game-winning 2-point run.

That set the stage for the annual Thanksgiving Day battle between Salem and Beverly, a game first contested in 1891. Stellato grew up envisioning himself being a part of the traditional tilt.

“I went to that game every year since I was six,” Stellato said. “It was a really good rivalry between two cities who respected each other. The games were always tough, but very clean. The crowds in those days were unbelievable, they used to get more than 10,000 people for the game.”

Now it was Stellato’s time to make his name in the game. He guided the Witches to a 10-7 lead before the Panthers stunned the sellout crowd at Hurd Field as Jim Fultz ripped off a 59-yard TD run with just over a minute remaining. Facing a deficit, Stellato and his teammates didn’t blink. On a fourth-and-10, Stellato connected with DePina on a 39-yard completion to set up Rodriguez’ game-winning 2-yard touchdown run with 24 seconds left to give Salem a 17-13 win and the NEC title.

“It was something I dreamed about – like I was Joe Montana or Doug Flutie,” Stellato said. “When we got down to the 2, coach originally wanted me to kick a field goal to tie the game which would have given us the championship. I had already made one earlier in the game that people said would have been good from 60.

“But we were a confident team and felt we could score. Our offensive line did a great job that day, we gave the ball to E Train and he scored which was great because that was the first time his mother saw him play.

“Every time I see people around, the first thing they talk about is that game. It really was a great game, we overcame so many obstacles to win the league title. I believe I learned a lot of lessons that year that set the stage for what I became today (a certified NFLPA agent).

“It was just divine intervention.”