LOS ANGELES — To hear the Utah Blaze describe it, you might think they were talking more about a trip to Lagoon than their 2007 Arena Football League season.

"If I had to describe it in one word, it would be 'roller coaster,"' said Blaze center Hans Olsen.

While "roller coaster" is actually two words, Olsen made his point. His coach agreed with the description.

"It's been a roller coaster of emotions," said Blaze coach Danny White. "We started out hot, went into a slump, had a lot of injuries and came out of it. In four of the last five games, we've played pretty well."

The Blaze are hoping the roller-coaster ride — which reached a high point last week when they beat Los Angeles to qualify for the playoffs — continues on an upward route today. The team is back in L.A. to face the Avengers in the Staples Center in a wild-card round AFL playoff game. Kickoff for the ESPN2-televised game is set for 8 p.m.

The good news for the Blaze is that a couple of the high points on the ride this year have come against the Avengers. Utah beat L.A. at home in April by two touchdowns, 76-63. The Blaze then defeated the Avengers 47-37 last week to improve to 4-0 all-time against them.

The winner of tonight's game will advance to play the defending ArenaBowl champion Chicago Crush next Monday night in Illinois.

A Blaze win would be their first-ever in the postseason. Two more wins beyond that and Utah would be in the ArenaBowl on July 29 in New Orleans. That would be an extreme high in a season that saw the almost indescribable low of having popular 28-year-old teammate Justin Skaggs die June 15 from complications of brain cancer less than a month after he played in Utah's 65-62 win in Orlando.

The midseason, five-game losing streak that took the Blaze from a division leader to sub-.500 and threatened their playoff chances hurt. But it paled in comparison to the pain caused by Skaggs' passing. Yet the team credits Skaggs for inspiring them to better performances of late and the team has dedicated the rest of the season to his memory.

"It's been up and down, up and down all season," said Olsen. "That five-game skid hurt us and took away the home playoff game that we would have had and it's just been a roller coaster with the Skaggs loss and everything else. It's just been a really up-and-down season."

Other positives this season for the Blaze include the record-setting performances of wide receiver Siaha Burley and Joe Germaine. Burley set the all-time AFL mark for catches and yardage in a single season, while Germaine set the all-time mark for passing yards.