Small town, big dreams for North Dakota towns of Drake, Anamoose and Balfour

FRISCO, Texas-You see these stories around the time of the North Dakota Class B boys basketball tournament, where small towns literally shut down because everybody is at the state's biggest high school sporting event. It's only early January, but if you drive through the communities of Drake, Anamoose and Balfour this weekend, you'll probably wonder where everybody is at.

Wendy Volson can tell you.

Everybody is in Frisco.

"Don't go and rob us now, nobody is there," she joked.

Wendy is the mother of Bison offensive linemen Tanner Volson and Cordell Volson, whose North Dakota State football team will face James Madison University for the Division I FCS championship on Saturday at Toyota Stadium. She and her husband Ralph are part of a traveling party of several vehicles that made the trip.

It's hard not to miss the Volson van, a white 12-passenger beauty that the family bought last year because of football. It's decaled with "The Thunder Rolls" on the side and the back is a graphic photo of both Volson players with the following caption: "Small Town Big Dreams."

It was designed by Midwest Graphic & Signs in Anamoose.

"It's the coolest thing ever to follow the Bison around," Wendy said. "I'm kind of a hands-on mom so I wasn't going to miss their games."

There have been some interesting trips this year, like the middle-of-the-night drives to Indiana State and Illinois State. Sleep wasn't much of an option. They arrived in Terre Haute, Ind., at 5 a.m. Saturday and just stayed up the rest of the day for the game.

That was a trip when Wendy was driving through Wisconsin in a driving rainstorm and 50 mph winds.

"The windshield wipers couldn't keep up," she said.

It's hard to keep up with the number of family and friends who will be in Frisco. The count was at least 50 as of late Friday morning.

"I don't think there are any lights left on in Drake, Anamoose or Balfour," Wendy said.

The Volsons are from Balfour, population 27, which is located six miles west of Drake. The joke is Balfour is a suburb of the other two towns, with Drake having a population of 283 and Anamoose 253.

Wendy will never forget the day Tanner, a 6-foot-4, 301-pound junior, first told her he wanted to play at NDSU.

"He just turned to me and said I want to play D-I ball," she said. "I was like, 'You want to play D-I football?' He said, 'Yep. I'm going to play in Fargo.' I said, 'You are, huh?' But it was his dream and he made it."

The recruitment of the 6-6, 299-pound Cordell, who is two years younger, was a little tougher. The University of Wyoming, with former NDSU head coach Craig Bohl, had Cordell down for a visit. The University of North Dakota made a nice offer, Wendy said.

"Actually we did have a couple doubts," she said. "We were out with Craig Bohl of course out there visiting and hanging out. Then we went to UND and Bubba (Schweigert) offered him pretty good, so it was kind of tough. It was a long hard decision for Cordell."

The decision to go to NDSU made for quite the Drake, Anamoose and Balfour party on Friday. It's not hard to find the group. Wendy said around 200 jerseys with either No. 74, No. 67 or both have been made in the last couple of years.

"They were on board from Day 1," she said. "Both the boys have quite the support system."

FCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

What: North Dakota State vs. James Madison

Where: Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas

When: 11 a.m. Saturday

TV: ESPN2

Radio: 740-AM, 1660-AM, 92.7-FM, 107.9-FM

SPECIAL LIVE TV COVERAGE

Saturday: Bison Pregame Show, 8 to 8:30 a.m., WDAY, WDAZ (wday.com)

SPECIAL LIVE RADIO COVERAGE

Saturday: Kolpack and Izzo Show, 9 to 10:30 a.m., 970-AM, 93.1-FM