Micheal Wheat has four touchdowns to lead St. John the Baptist

Michael Wheat looked like anything but a newcomer for St. John the Baptist on Saturday.

The junior quarterback, who transferred from Roslyn entering this season, dazzled with several eye-opening plays featuring both his arm and legs against St. Peter’s (Staten Island). He completed 8 of 14 passes for 165 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown on eight carries to spark the Cougars to a 44-20 home victory in a CHSFL Class A-I football game.

“I needed to make a decision after my sophomore year of where to go,” Wheat said. “And this just seemed like the best decision. We’ve got chemistry and it feels like I’ve been here forever with all the work we put into the offseason.”

St. John the Baptist improved to 3-0 in league and 3-1 overall. Running back Eli Alvarez also made a significant impact throughout the day, adding eight carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

Wheat relied heavily on wide receiver Jayson Zeva, who had six receptions for 147 yards and three touchdowns.

Zeva noted that he and Wheat’s chemistry, however, goes beyond Wheat’s recent arrival.

“It’s awesome having a quarterback like this,” Zeva said. “We’ve been teammates before on the same travel team. We have that previous chemistry and the longer we keep working, the better we’re going to get.”

It was certainly evident on Saturday, as two of those scores occurred on electrifying plays downfield.

Wheat stepped up in the pocket and launched a 44-yard touchdown pass down the middle of the field to Zeva to give St. John the Baptist its first lead at 14-7 on the opening play of the second quarter.

St. Peter’s tied the score with 8:45 remaining in the first half on a 3-yard rushing touchdown by Jordan Williams before Zeva hauled in a 27-yard touchdown pass from Wheat in the back of the end zone about midway through the second. Zeva then threw a pass to Jack Gagliardi for the two-point conversion following a high snap to extend St. John the Baptist’s lead to 22-14.

Wheat said he’s certainly looking downfield for Zeva when his offensive line performs at such a high level.

“Oh yeah,” Wheat smiled. “We want big plays, but sometimes we have to take what the defense gives us. But our offensive line was great today and it was very easy to hit Jason deep.”

St. John the Baptist coach Phil Alba said Wheat’s playmaking ability takes this offense to a different level.

“I think with Mike the game is slowing down for him,” Alba said. “I think he kind of sees where there’s going to be openings…What he’s starting to show is that when he runs outside of the pocket it’s with an intended purpose. He can still keep his eyes downfield and throw it, and he can really run it.”

The two sides traded touchdowns to end the half, giving St. John the Baptist a 30-20 advantage entering the locker room. The Cougars tacked on two more touchdowns in the third quarter — a 5-yard catch by Zeva and a 45-yard run by Wheat — and held the St. Peter’s offense scoreless the entire second half as Alba adjusted his strategy on defense to contain the strong rushing attack up the middle.

Despite his recent arrival, Wheat said he anticipated this sort of immediate success entering the season.

“Yes,” Wheat said. “Absolutely.”