Tinsley siblings overcome setbacks
Scott shining for Redlands football, Ell for Biola soccer
Devastating setbacks, heartbreak and uncertainty have infused the trajectories of Scott and Ell Tinsley’s college athletic careers.
However, as the Monte Vista Christian School graduates will readily testify, the fact that they have thrived in their respective sports this season is a testament to the power of faith and perseverance.
Scott, the younger of the two siblings, plays football at the University of Redlands, where he is a junior academically. Ell, now a grad student, recently wrapped up her final season with the women’s soccer team at Biola University, roughly an hour away.
Each has experienced adversity in different ways: After seeing his 2020 season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott suddenly found himself without a team when his original university, Azusa Pacific, unexpectedly cut its football program. Ell, meanwhile, experienced a string of injuries that, combined with the pandemic, kept her out of soccer matches for three years.
Both devout Christians — they try to attend worship services together every Sunday at a church in between their Southern California schools — the Tinsleys believe God has rewarded them for trusting Him in the face of adversity.
“When God closes one door, he opens another,” Scott said. “That’s been evident in my season so far.”
Scott recently capped the regular season on an incredible hot streak, recording six interceptions in Redlands’ final four games. The 6-foot-1 strong safety snagged two of those interceptions last Saturday, returning one 41 yards for a pick-six and the other deep into opposing territory to set up another touchdown in a 56-28 win over Cal Lutheran that secured the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and an NCAA Division III play
off berth for the Bulldogs.
For making those picks, along with a team-high eight tackles, Scott earned the SCIAC’s Defensive Athlete of the Week award for the second time in four weeks.
“He’s made a huge difference with the turnovers he’s made in games,” Redlands head coach Jim Good said. “He’s really upped the performance level of our defense. He’s fast, he covers a lot of ground and has really great anticipation.”
When Azusa Pacific cut its football program for financial reasons in 2020, Scott didn’t see it coming: The school was just two years removed from winning a championship in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and had hired a new head coach and defensive coordinator.
“It was heartbreaking,” Scott recalled. “It caught me completely off guard.
“It was Wednesday of finals week when we were told about it, and I was getting ready for the spring semester, getting ready for spring football and getting ready to compete for a starting job.”
Fortunately, Scott still had good relationships with Redlands defensive coordinator Joey Mariani, who had recruited him at Monte Vista Christian, and running backs coach Craig Robbins, who had served on Azusa Pacific’s coaching staff during Scott’s time there. Both were thrilled to bring Scott over to Redlands as a transfer student.
Even so, Redlands was plenty deep at free safety, the position Scott was in line to play at APU. The Bulldogs had an opening at strong safety, though, so Scott added 40 pounds to his frame, bulking up from 170 pounds to 210 while retaining speed.
The move has paid dividends: In addition to his league-high six interceptions, Scott ranks second on the Bulldogs in tackles with 55.
“I’ve grown into my own as a football player,” Scott said. “I’m bigger, stronger, and faster. … My newfound size and build have helped me be successful in my new position.
“I’m blessed to play a high volume of snaps. I’m in the game a lot. I’m exactly where I want to be — in the thick of it.”
Ell, a starting forward and team captain with Biola’s women’s soccer team this season, had an even tougher go of things than Scott did: She saw limited action in her first three years with the Eagles — in fact, before this season, the last time she’d appeared in a match was in 2018.
That season, Ell played in six matches — starting three — before suffering a severe Achilles tendon injury. She then redshirted her junior season after suffering a concussion early in the year.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, wiping out Biola’s 2020 season. By the time this season began, Ell had already earned her bachelor’s degree in public relations with a double minor in biblical studies and theology.
It was all enough to make Ell question whether God wanted her to be done with soccer.
“I had plans to walk away at one point,” Ell said. “I prayed long and hard about it. People outside of the faith would probably go, ‘That makes sense — you’re not getting a lot of playing time.’”
Still, Ell couldn’t shake the conviction that God didn’t want her to quit the game just yet. When Biola coach Erin Brunelle not only asked Ell to return, but to serve as the Eagles’ captain, Ell got the confirmation she needed.
“I’m not going to lie: I was kind of mad and questioning (God) at the time for asking me to stay,” Ell said. “I had to keep coming to him despite my disappointments to ask for motivation — I couldn’t make the motivation on my own.
“So I asked the Lord to give me strength, endurance, the joy and patience to be a good teammate. I didn’t want to be just trudging through it. I wanted to contribute.”
Ell has certainly done that: As Biola’s starting left wing in a 3-5-2 formation — three forwards, five midfielders, two defenders — she patrolled the sidelines well enough to lead the Eagles to a respectable 5-4-1 record in NCAA Division II’s PacWest Conference (78-2