Colin Guentensberger will surely look forward to the winters of Boone he’ll eventually endure this week as temperatures creep up in the mid-90s.
While Guentensberger played his final high school football game as an Orange Panther last November against Riverside, he still has one more tilt ahead of him. He will suit up in the East/West All-Star Game at Grimsley High School in Greensboro on Wednesday.
Guentensberger, who graduated last month, was selected for the All-Star game by Wilmington Hoggard head coach Craig Underwood. In 2017 and 2018, Underwood watched Guentensberger from the sidelines as Hoggard faced Orange.
“When Coach Underwood chose Colin to be on the team, he said he wanted Colin on his side, for once,” said Orange coach Van Smith.
Smith, who was chosen as an assistant for the East squad last summer, will spend the week in Greensboro as an assistant for East head coach Sport Sawyer, who has spent the past two years at Manteo High School.
Guentensberger, who was the Orange High Most Valuable Player in 2018, will become the first Orange player to suit up in the East/West All-Star Game for football since Garrett Cloer in 2015. Only three players from Orange have ever played in the East/West game, which dates back to 1949: Larry McDonald in 2008 and B.J. Cameron in 1998. McDonald, who went on to play for Orange’s 2A State Baseball Championship team, is now an administrative assistant for Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M.
The last athlete from Hillsborough selected for the East/West All-Star Game was Cedar Ridge’s Taylin Jean, who was chosen as a goalkeeper for the women’s soccer game.
In 2018, Guetensberger registered 100 tackles, second on the team behind fellow linebacker Jett Satterfield’s 107. Guentensberger was also 2nd on the team with 23 receptions for 327 yards and two touchdowns. Guentensberger caught the opening touchdown pass from Travis Ray against Eastern Guilford on October 26.
He also caught a 26-yard pass as Orange defeated East Chapel Hill 54-0 for its first win of the 2018 season. Guentensberger had a career-high four receptions for 67 yards against Northwood on October 19, a 24-7 Orange victory in Pittsboro.
Guentensberger also played varsity baseball for two seasons. Last season, he hit .292 for an Orange team that finished 2nd in the Big 8 Conference. He opened the season as the cleanup batter and had an RBI single in an 18-1 victory against Ragsdale in Jamestown. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI double as Orange defeated Chapel Hill 10-1 on April 25, its first win at Chapel Hill since 2015.
Smith’s appointment as an assistant coach comes after he completed his second year as Orange’s head coach. Previously, Smith was the defensive coordinator under former Panthers head coach Pat Moser, who retired in 2016. Smith was named as his replacement.
Smith was also an assistant coach at Graham High under Moser. He was also the head baseball coach of the Red Devils before moving over to Orange. This is just the latest All-Star game coaching assignment for Smith. In 2016, he was an assistant for North Carolina’s Shrine Bowl team.
Smith led Orange to the 2017 Big 8 Championship.