Salem Football Story Told in New Book, Author to Sign Copies

The inspiring story of the 1994 Salem High School football team is the basis for a new book “No Backing Down.”

Later this month, the book’s author, a star player on the team and college All-Academic in both football and basketball who now works as a NFL agent, will sign copies of the book at Barnes and Nobles in Peabody.

Sean Stellato will be the store - next to the North Shore Mall - on Monday, Sept. 22 from 2-5 p.m.

Stellato worked on the book for six years “about a subject near and dear to (him) and his former Salem Witch teammates.”

The real life story is about the 1994 Salem teacher’s strike when head football coach Ken Perrone defied an order to cease and desist coaching his team.

“Despite incredible odds stacked up against it, Stellato and his Salem Witches teammates banded together to take on the school administration, the courts and their often more talented opponents on their way to a high school Super Bowl appearance,” according to a synopsis of the book.

In the book, Stellato talks about the witch trials of 1692 when people who were falsely accused refused to admit guilt, drawing comparisons to Perrone, who was similarly chastised and accused when he was viewed as a cult leader by the school superintendent.

The book’s foreword is written by former NFL and CFL star, Doug Flutie, a Natick native.

“No Backing Down” has been on sale since July, when it was released at a gala book release event at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem.