Drew Tisbert, an Andover resident and star quarterback at Austin Prep in Reading, has committed to play college football at Bentley University — for a head coach with his own deep Andover roots.

C.J. Scarpa, who took over as Bentley's head coach ahead of the 2025 season, played football at Andover High School himself, and the Scarpa family is well known in local athletics. According to reporting from the Andover Townsman, Bentley was Tisbert's clear top choice throughout the recruiting process, and he "found a kindred spirit" in Scarpa — the kind of connection that can matter as much as any depth chart when a high schooler is picking where to spend the next four years.

Scarpa's first season leading Bentley delivered immediately: the Falcons went 7-4 and won the Northeast-10 Conference championship, beating Assumption 20-17 in November to claim their first title since 2019 and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II tournament. Bentley entered that season as the preseason favorite, ranked No. 1 in the Northeast-10 coaches' poll with four first-place votes — and Scarpa's squad lived up to it.

Tisbert moves from Austin Prep, an independent Catholic school in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council known for sending nearly all its graduates to four-year colleges, into Bentley's Division II program in Waltham. It's a jump from prep football to a proven championship program — one now led by a coach who understands exactly where Tisbert is coming from.

The commitment links two Andover-raised quarterbacks across generations, a hometown thread that's likely to be followed closely as Tisbert's college career gets underway.