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ESTERO — It was a night for being fired up. A night when an announced crowd of 5,761 — the largest this season — converged on Germain Arena, many of the fans banging inflatable, tube-shaped noisemakers that were distributed before the game.

Thump, thump.

That was the sound of the Florida Firecats, arenafootball2's winningest team over the last two seasons, disposing of the Louisville Fire, 62-56, to clinch the South Division title and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

Thump, thump.

That was the sound of redemption. The Firecats (12-3) made the most of their only meeting with the team that ended Florida's season a year ago, providing sunshine for those who came indoors to escape nasty weather outside.

Not that it was a walk in the park. The Firecats trailed by two touchdowns until the final minute of the first half, when Louisville (9-6) failed on a surprising onside kick attempt. Florida took advantage, scoring 28 straight points to pull ahead.

"That was huge," Florida offensive coordinator Ken Mastrole said, referring to the momentum gained by the failed onside kick.

It was the story of the night for Louisville, which tried four onside kicks — three in the final minutes, when the Fire were desperate — but never recovered one. The game ended after kicker Dave Hendrix's final shot was recovered by Levy Brown, opening the door for Florida to run out the final 40 seconds with a couple of running plays.

And there it was. Florida had set itself up to be the No. 1 seed in the American Conference, remarkable given the topsy-turvy nature of this year's playoff race. Nine of the conference's 12 teams had life entering the weekend.

"We've been dancing all season," said Florida lineman Antonio Dingle, who was a star on defense, forcing a fumble that resulted in an Ethenic Sands touchdown return. "We don't plan on stopping any time soon."

The big win came against the right team. Louisville left the Germain Arena crowd in silence with its 70-40 upset of the Firecats in last year's conference championship game, denying Florida the chance to defend its ArenaCup crown.

The rematch, in the beginning, looked like a replay. Louisville quarterback Brett Dietz completed 17 of his first 19 passes as the Fire, who trailed only once in last year's game, took a trio of two-touchdown leads, the last on Rob Mager's highlight-reel grab for a 29-14 edge with one minute to play in the second quarter.

After Chris Morant cut it to 29-20 with a 2-yard run, Sands picked up a fumble by Dietz and ran it in for a 6-yard score, then caught a 2-point pass from Chris Wallace. Louisville nearly regained the momentum before halftime, but Dietz misfired over the middle at the buzzer, with the ball skipping off Mager's fingertips.

The Firecats were on their way. They scored twice to open the second half — Brittney Tellis set the tone with a long kickoff return to start the third quarter — leaving the Fire to play from behind, but Louisville never got closer than the final margin.

Four Florida players — Wallace (passing yards), Clenton Crossley (rushing touchdowns), Brown (interceptions) and Cory Bailey (tackles) — broke single-season franchise records, feats that surely would warrant headlines under typical circumstances.

Then came the onside kick. The dagger the Fire hoped to find before halftime — a recovery might have burned up Florida's comeback hopes — bounced the other way, giving the Firecats possession inside the Louisville 5 with 58 seconds showing.

They were just a footnote, however, given everything else that happened. The Firecats marched past bad memories by creating good ones, leaving the big, raucous crowd plenty of reason to bang those noisemakers.

"We're looking good right now," said Tellis, who had a receiving touchdown to go with his fumble recovery for a score. "We're just going to take it day by day and see where that leads us. We have some little things to work on."