An old adage about the measure of a good football coach goes like this: “He can take his and beat yours and take yours and beat his.”

Timpanogos offensive coordinator Tyler Anderson is all about that life.

Last year as the head coach at Mountain View, Anderson led the Bruins to a 53-13 rout of the Timberwolves. He resigned after the 2020 season and was hired as the new Timpanogos play caller this summer. On Friday, Matu Holdaway threw six touchdown passes – four to sophomore sensation Luke Livingston – running Anderson’s spread offense in a 63-7 thrashing of his old team.

“I feel bad for them (Mountain View),” Anderson said. “They’re young and trying to rebuild, and I’ve been there. I know it hurts when you’re trying to get something rolling. But we’ve got some good kids here that are working hard and buying in. It’s fun to come to a new program and see success.”

Timpanogos – which played an independent schedule last season and is back in Class 5A – is 4-0 so far in 2021 and has scored 223 points in four games, an average of 55.8 points per game. The Timberwolves schedule, which so far has also included a pair of 2A teams (Millard and Grand) and 4A Hurricane, will get significantly more difficult from here.

“This win over Mountain View represents a ton,” second-year Timpanogos head coach Austin Heaps said. “All week we’ve been having the mentality of a chip on our shoulder. We reminded them how this game went last year. For our boys to come out and respond the way they did was great. Things are starting to click for a lot of these kids. They can be as good as they want to be depending on how much they put into it, and they’re starting to understand that.”

Timpanogos (4-0 overall, 1-0 Region 7) led 22-7 at halftime and exploded for 41 second-half points. A fumble recovery by Justin Cichoski and a fourth-down tackle for loss by Joseph Banks set the Timberwolves up for two third quarter scores and the dam burst offensively as the home team scored at will the rest of the way. Josh Jones had a pair of long touchdown runs as Timpanogos broke the game wide open.

Livingston – a 5-foot-11, 175-pound sophomore receiver – caught touchdown passes of 10, 23, 49 and 50 yards while displaying breakaway speed and a knack for going up over a defender to catch the ball.

“His body control is unreal,” Heaps said. “Passes people call 50-50 balls? We call them 90-10 balls, because there’s a 90-percent chance Luke is bringing that thing down. He’s a generational talent and a stud.”

Livingston is making a big splash in his sophomore season and has 10 touchdown receptions in just four games.

“I think what was working was we kept running the ball and that opened up more passing opportunities for us,” Livingston said. “The quarterback made throws, the receivers made plays and our running backs kept running the ball.”

Anderson said he offered to stay on the coaching staff at Mountain View but new coach Abe Poduska went a different direction. Heaps said he stayed in touch with Anderson over the summer as he also looked into coaching at Provo, Skyridge and Timpview before deciding Timpanogos was where he wanted to be.

“Having Tyler Anderson on the sideline has been probably the No. 1 success that has flipped us from 0-3 and 1-4 last year to 4-0 this year,” Heaps said. “You can’t get a better football mind than that.”

Anderson’s offenses were nearly always among the state’s best while at Orem and Mountain View and he’s brought that same explosiveness to the Timberwolves, which scored four touchdowns of 44 yards or more against the Bruins.

“We were talking all week about how this game means a lot to us,” Livingston said. “We just wanted to put it on them and keep the train rolling all game.”

Timpanogos continues Region 7 play next week at Payson. Mountain View (0-4, 0-1) will host Uintah.

Timpanogos 63, Mountain View 7

Mountain View;0;7;0;0;–;7

Timpanogos;9;13;20;21;–;63

T – Safety

T – Livingston 10 pass from Holdaway (Bretzing kick)

T – Livingston 23 pass from Holdaway (kick failed)

MV – Hill 73 pass from McCarty (kick failed)

T -Vanchiere 44 pass from Holdaway (Bretzing kick)

T – Bretzing 9 pass from Holdaway (Bretzing kick)

T – Jones 25 run (pass failed)

T – Livingston 49 pass from Holdaway (Bretzing kick)

T – Livingston 50 pass from Holdaway (Bretzing kick)

T – Jones 47 run (Bretzing kick)

T – Ashby 19 pass from Riggs (Bretzing kick)

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