The whistle blew at 6:30 p.m. sharp. Twelve teams took the polished maple of the old National Guard armory, now the Rouse Avenue Recreation Center, for the first night of the Gallatin Valley Dodgeball Association’s fall session.

League commissioner Marv Hentges, 54, stood at center court with a clipboard and a box of foam balls. He played linebacker at Belgrade High in 1989. He still evaluates athletic contests by whether the front seven held its ground.

“You watch the line,” Hentges said, tapping his clipboard. “If the front row doesn’t flinch on the opening rush, the back row has time to catch. It’s trench warfare with nerf.”

The Midvalley Muckers, sponsored by a Belgrade septic company, wore matching Carhartt hoodies with the sleeves cut off. Their opponents, the Bridger Bowl Patrol, wore matching Patagonia baggies and carried Nalgenes filled with electrolyte mix. Both teams stretched near the radiators.

First game went to sudden death. Muckers’ catcher Dale Pruitt, 38, snagged a screaming line drive off the Patrol’s top thrower while stepping on the center line. The referee, a MSU kinesiology major named Kip, ruled the catch clean. The armory erupted. Someone’s dog barked from the bleachers.

“That’s a championship play right there,” said Pruitt, wiping foam dust from his beard. “Line held. I held. We advance.”

The Patrol cleared the court laughing. Their captain, a ski tech named Leif, bought the first round at the Mint afterward. The Muckers stayed to help stack the balls. The heat clicked on at 9 p.m. The building smelled like floor wax and old wool.

Season runs through November. Playoffs the week before Thanksgiving. Hentges already has the bracket printed.