By RYAN WALKER

For The Tribune

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The Huntington Hammer will travel to Pikeville this Saturday night to face the Eastern Kentucky Drillers in the semifinals of the Ultimate Bowl playoffs of the Ultimate Indoor Football League.

“It is what it is, win or go home,” said Hammer head coach Michael “Kool-Aid” Owens. “I feel we’ve matured a lot as a team.”

The Hammer won their regular season finale against Saginaw 49-25 in Huntington on Sunday to secure the last spot in the playoffs.

The Hammer have won back-to-back games, largely in part to their defense and limiting mental mistakes.

“We’ve done a very good job the last few games of keeping our penalties down and limiting turnovers,” said Owens.

While there is excitement building for the game, Owens knows his biggest task will be trying to familiarize with the Drillers team.

The two teams have not met since March 18 as the Hammer won 39-28 in Huntington. Eastern Kentucky won the first meeting in week two, 37-26.

“It is different, but everyone has a clean slate now, records don’t matter,” said Owens. “You just have to man up, but it is different.”

The Drillers will look to their signal caller Allan Holland to put big points on the board all night.

Holland ranked third in the league in passing, throwing for 2,106 yards and 44 touchdown passes.

His favorite targets are Aric Evans and Matthew Barbour. The two have combined for more than 2,000 yards receiving and 51 touchdown catches.

Huntington comes into the contest boasting the league’s top defense letting opposing offenses score an average of 36 points a game and allowing 155 total yards a game.

In the last meeting, Huntington was able to pressure Holland and sacked him three times while limiting him to only 97 yards of passing for the game.

“We have so many weapons,” said Owens. “The coaching part is easy. It’s picking who to put out there and match up with.”

Just one example of Owens’ roster dilemma would be Hammer defensive end Rodney Fritz.

Fritz, who is second in the league in sacks with 11.5, did not play in last Sunday’s game. He was held out of action to pursue a contract offer from the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League.

However, there is a chance Fritz may suit up this weekend. He has been given the okay from the CFL team to finish the season.

“My agent talked to (B.C. Lions) and they want me to be able to play and try and win a championship,” said Fritz. “I was not sure what I wanted to do last week because I really want to play and get that ring.”

The first playoff game begins tonight as the fourth-seeded Northern Kentucky River Monsters travel to play the top-seeded Saginaw Sting.

Saginaw will be behind the eight-ball before the first snap is taken. They will be without the services of their quarterback Tommy Jones who took a leave of absence early last week and is not expected to start.

The Hammer organization will be providing a bus for fans to ride to Pikeville to support the team.

Fans will get to ride free of charge to and from the game, but will have to purchase their own tickets. The bus is scheduled to leave from the South Point K-Mart parking lot at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.