By: Richard Neil Graham (LFL360.com)
Photo: Joe Petro, Don Montague/LFL PHOTOS
She came from a far-off corner of Down Under in Croydon, Queensland, Australia, where you’re more likely to see an alligator than a football. She’s done modeling gigs for Playboy, but is no powder puff. Cricket and rugby are two of her nation’s national sports – but she must have watched enough American football to gain a good idea of what it takes to be a gridiron gladiator. Meet WR/DE Chloe Butler, the Los Angeles Temptation’s “Terrible Terminator.”
When the Temptation played the Las Vegas Sin last November, they might have been a bit gun-shy against Dion Lee’s big and confident (and undefeated) squad. On Friday, January 29, at the Citizen’s Business Bank in Ontario, California, Butler and the Temptation avenged their early season loss to the Sin in dominating fashion.
“We totally stepped it up on defense,” said Temptation defensive coordinator Tui Suiaunoa. “Chloe Butler had an unbelievable game. She stepped up here game so much from when she first started at the beginning of the season till now. She’s grown and learned this game and picked it up. Man, she had one hell of a game.”
Coach Dave “Biz” Bizub danced off the field at halftime with the Temptation in charge with a 27-12 lead. Temptation QB Ashley Salerno threw a touchdown strike to Melissa Margulies on the very first play of the game, tossed two more to Audrey Latsko, and ran one in herself. The Sin scored first-half two touchdowns, but failed on both conversion attempts. (Salerno was named the game’s MVP.)
“Ashley is the franchise quarterback,” said her father, former Temptation coach Chris Salerno. “When she woke up this morning, we had a little talk. She was super focused and she told me, ‘It’s time for me to set it right. I’m not done.’ I think in the first game, they were a little intimidated in the game against by Las Vegas. This time, they were not.”
The Sin made it interesting in the second half by getting a touchdown to get with nine points, 27-18. Then they stopped the Temptation on downs and got the ball back. Had they scored then, anything could have happened. That’s when the Butler did it…
“Chloe came up huge,” Bizub said. “She was the difference in this game. Chloe just stepped up and dominated that line; just ran over people. She was amazing. She made a sack, she caused pressure, and she was there.”
Bizub said that once the Temptation got the ball back due to Butler’s heroics, they just wanted to hold on to the ball and run out the clock.
“We were up by three scores,” Bizub said. “We didn’t want to turn the ball over and give it back to them. We were just trying to play conservative. That’s not what the fans want, but I wanted to win the game. The big game (the Lingerie Bowl) is next week.”
Bizub added that the Temptation will have to play even better in Las Vegas against the Philadelphia Passion if they’re going to three-peat.
“We got ourselves a few scores, but they got the ball back in the second half,” Bizub said. “We couldn’t score and we couldn’t move the ball in the second half; the Sin made great adjustments on us. We had some screw-ups in our play calling. We’ve got to do a lot better against Philadelphia. We can’t make these mistakes, otherwise, they’re gonna dominate. You just saw what they (the Passion) did against Tampa – they scored every time they touched the ball, unless they turned it over. They’re a tough team.”
Tough is an understatement, considering that Bizub considers Philadelphia an even better team than they were last season.
“They’ve got (RB/LB) Jenny Butler, probably the second-best player in the league, next to (RB/S) Marirose Roach,” Bizub said. “So, they’ve got the two best players in the league. I know that there are others – Liz Gorman has done a great job – but Jenny Butler can flat out play. She plays close to the ball and she hits like a Russian tank. She’s amazing. And Roach, she’s just so savvy; she’s tough to stop. We stopped her last year just because she got hurt. We scored every time we touched the ball – and they scored every time they touched the ball. They had turnovers; otherwise, they would have beaten us last year. We got one (a turnover) on the last series of the game. But it’s better to be lucky than good! We’ve got a tough game ahead of us.”
“They said I only had one sack, but it was actually two,” Butler said. “I definitely feel bad. That was the second wrist I broke this season.” (Apparently, Butler also broke Minnesota QB Jana Skrtic’s wrist, too.)
Butler doesn’t think she merits the “Terrible Terminator” nickname that I tried to tag her with.
“I’m very modest and humble,” Butler said. “I was just doing my job. Tessa (Barrera), Monique (Gaxiola) and Og (Chijindu) terminated.”
Butler doesn’t terminate, I guess. She just breaks bones.
Tags: 2012, ashley salerno, Chloe Butler, L.A. Temptation, Las Vegas Sin, nikki johnson, richard neil graham
