Bender signs with Central College

MT. PLEASANT - Brody Bender will be heading to Pella this fall. The Mt. Pleasant senior quarterback will be heading to Central College to study Management Information Systems and play football for the Dutch. He signed his letter of intent on Thursday in the Mt. Pleasnt High School media center.

Bender had an outstanding season for the Panthers in 2019, throwing for 1,624 yards, 21 touchdowns and just five interceptions in his only year in the starting slot. He led Mt. Pleasant to a 6-3 overall record, and a 3-2 district mark.

'Central stuck out from day one,” Bender said. 'They have great facilities. They have my major, and the coaching staff there was great.”

Bender had to wait in the wings for three years, but when it was finally time for him to take over the starting quarterback spot, he came to play. Bender finished the year with a 163.2 quarterback rating and was one of the top passers in all of Class 3A.

'He has some intangibles with his leadership skills, but he's also tall, he's got great levers, and he sees the field well,” said Panther head coach Shawn Striegel. 'Of course, he's an intelligent young man, and he'll work extremely hard and prepare for each game the way he needs to.”

Bender will be joining a Central College squad that went 10-2 overall last year and 7-1 in the American Rivers Conference, grabbing a share of the A-R-C championship in the process. They finished the season ranked in the top 25 in NCAA Division III football and won one playoff game.

Bender says playing football at the next level had always been on his mind, but he didn't know if it was possible until he started getting contacted last fall.

'It was always a dream,” Bender said. 'I didn't think I would play college football my junior year, and then this year coaches started coming in after those first couple of games. I believe that my best football is ahead of me, so that's why I decided to play college football.”