It didn't matter if Wyoming won its division, placed second or missed the playoffs.

The Cavalry's Fourth of July home game was never in jeopardy.

Friday's game was guaranteed in August during American Indoor Football Association owners' meetings.

The only question about the game during the season was if it would be a divisional playoff game or a bowl game.

"Owners voted that Wyoming could have a Fourth of July game," said Argeri Layton, Wyoming's director of business operations.

"… Everybody knows how important the Fourth game is to Wyoming and teams we've never worked with said, 'That is OK.'"

Wyoming never had to worry about the bowl game angle - the Cavalry finished the regular season 11-3 and will host the Arizona Adrenaline in the first round of the playoffs on Friday.

Still, Layton said it was important for the team to secure the date because watching fireworks at the Casper Events Center after attending the Cavalry game has become a community tradition.

Originally, the Independence Day game was going to be the team's seventh home game, but when team schedules came out, the Fourth of July was listed as the first round of the playoffs.

The game was on pocket schedules as a playoff game before the season started, and Layton said this was an error.

"If we had not made a playoff spot, we would host a bowl game with an East (Conference) AIFA team," Layton said.

Wyoming clinched a playoff spot early in the season by winning its first nine games. Winning the West Division and legitimately clinching Friday's home game took a little longer.

Wyoming beat Arizona for the division title on the fifth tiebreaker. The Cavs and Adrenaline both finished with identical records for the season (11-3), head-to-head (2-2), division (11-3), conference (11-3) and common games (both lost to New Mexico). Wyoming finally edged Arizona in net points with a 443-256 advantage.

"If Arizona would have won (the division), they would have been (No.) 1 in the West, but the game would have still been here," Layton said.

Though the game was guaranteed, the Cavs still wanted to make sure they earned it. Doing so, Layton said, might have put extra pressure on coach Dan Maciejczak.

"I myself took it personally as far as wanting to make sure that we earn the right to be at home and not just given to us because that was part of the deal," Maciejczak said. "If you want to call that pressure, there was a little bit, but nothing too bad."

Now the pressure is on the team to win the game - and on Layton to make sure there are future Fourth of July games.

"It is a staple in the community and I would like to look at it," Layton said. "I don't want to ever take something away from another team and I'm happy it turned out this way. I will push for schedule to allow a Fourth (of July) game."

Contact sports reporter David Buck at (307) 266-0596 or david.buck@trib.com

Cavs Tracker

n FRIDAY: AIFA playoffs, Arizona at Wyoming, 6 p.m., Casper Events Center.

n RECORDS: Adrenaline (11-3); Cavalry (11-3).

n GUARANTEED GAME: Last August, American Indoor Football Association owners voted to allow Wyoming a Fourth of July game. Friday's game against Arizona is the divisional round of the playoffs. If the Cavalry missed the playoffs, they would have played a bowl game against a team from the Eastern Conference.

n DIVISION CHAMPS: Though Arizona and Wyoming have the same record, the Cavalry won the West Division based on the fifth tiebreaker n- net points.

n SHE SAID IT: "If Arizona would have won (the division), they would have been (No.) 1 in the West, but the game would have still been here." - Argeri Layton, Cavs director of business operations.