But this time, they won’t be on the same team.

Black and gold will be their school colors, but Holthaus is headed west to Fort Hays State in Hays, while McWilliams is eastbound for Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Mo.

The Tonganoxie teammates made their decisions official on National Signing Day on Feb. 7 in the concourse area outside Chieftain Arena.

Both schools are NCAA Division II programs that play in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association conference.

And, interestingly enough, FHSU and Missouri Western open the season against each other.

They will play either Sept. 5 or 7 at Fort Hays State.

“It will be cool,” McWilliams said about facing off against Holthaus’ team in the opener. “I grew up with him. We’ve hung out with each other since elementary school.

“To kind of see each other’s process and how much work went into where we are today, going against him will be fun to see all that hard work pay off.”

The high school years

Shawn F. Linenberger

Holthaus had similar sentiments.

“I’m pretty excited,” Holthaus explained. “It’s just going to be a good experience playing against a former teammate and honestly I’m looking forward to it.”

Missouri Western went 8-4 in 2023, while Fort Hays State finished 7-4. The Griffons won the head-to-head meeting, 28-7, against the FHSU Tigers.

Holthaus had interest from several MIAA schools such as Missouri Western, Pitt State, Emporia State, Missouri Southern , Northwest Missouri State and FHSU. There also were offers from Highland, Garden City, Coffeyville and Butler in Kansas and Iowa Western, all in the junior college ranks, but Fort Hays State offered him a position he could continue to play on from high school. The talented wide receiver will be a tight end for the Tigers.

“And it’s far enough from home but still in Kansas so I can still see all of my family,” Holthaus said.

McWilliams had 10 offers total from Juco, NAIA, NCAA Division II and an FCS program.

Drake in Des Moines was the FCS school. He also had some interest from K-State and KU, but K-State got a new special teams coach during the process and both schools ended up not signing a kicker in the 2024 class.

Leading up to his decision, McWilliams was busy at kicking camps as far south as Dallas and as far north and east as Ohio and West Virginia.

“I think even before I got my offer and visited there, everything about Missouri Western seemed right,” McWilliams noted. “Just that good feeling, just being there, and the offer came.

“During the recruiting process, all roads led back to Missouri Western. It was the standard we were comparing everything to. With the official visit, it truly solidified that was the best place for me.”

Holthaus participated in football four years, powerlifting two years, basketball two years and will be competing in his final track season at THS in the spring.

In football, he was 2021 second team all-Frontier League, 2022 and 2023 first team all-Frontier League, 2022 all-state honorable mention and 2023 first team all-state.

He also is the school record holder for receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.

In track and field, Holthaus so far has placed eighth at state in the hurdles his freshman year, second at state in the long jump and third at state in the hurdles and eighth at state in the 4×400 as a sophomore. He also places sixth at state in the long jump as a junior and holds the school record for the long jump and as part of the 4×100 relay team.

He also was a quarterfinalist for a prestigious wide receiver award.

McWilliams has participated in football and soccer four years, Chieftain Singers four years, Future Business Leaders of America three years, Student Council four years, National Honor Society two years, Health Occupations Students of America one year and Big Red four years.

In football, he was first team all-league all four years, honorable mention all-state 2020, 2021 and 2022 and then first-team all state as a senior, as well as 2023 all-classes special teams player of the year. He also had the second most points in THS football history and now holds school records for most PAT’s, field goals and touchbacks in a game, season and career.

In soccer he was Lawrence Journal-World first team all-area in 2021 and 2022, first team all-state and goalkeeper of the year in 2022, along with first team all-league in 2022.

McWilliams also is the state record holder for single season and career saves as THS goalie.

On awards night for the soccer team, THS coach Jon Orndorff honored McWilliams with a framed jersey that is to hang in the soccer locker room alongside a list of his career stats.

“My whole family had no idea,” McWilliams said. “I was just shocked and honored. I was absolutely not expecting any of it.”

McWilliams also received the 810 Sports Honorary ESPY for Perseverance Award in the fall. The THS senior earned all of his accolades while also being diagnosed with diabetes in April 2022.

Picking a major

McWilliams plans to go into nursing, while Holthaus is eyeing a sports management degree or something in that career vicinity.

McWilliams got accepted into Missouri Western’s nursing scholarship/preacceptance program.

He also has a year of credits under his belt with knocking out some dual credits while at THS.

He’s automatically accepted into the nursing program if he maintains a 3.2 grade-point average. If he continues that path, McWilliams will be the first football player ever at Missouri Western to go through the nursing program. He said he was drawn to the field due to his own diabetes diagnosis, which also could lead him to study endocrinology.

As for Holthaus, he’s eyeing sports management, sports business, sports entertainment or the like. And he has one more season of sports at Tonganoxie with the track season set to start soon.

McWilliams plans to play some club soccer locally in the spring as well.