Former Southeast Guilford HS head football coach Fritz Hessenthaler named new Head Football Coach at Orange High School

Orange High School recently named Fritz Hessenthaler as its new head football coach, replacing former Panthers standout and alumnus Devante Pettiford. Hessenthaler won 48 games at his prior school, Southern Alamance, including a 2023 Central Conference championship.

Orange hires Fritz Hessenthaler as new head football coach
from Adam Powell at News of Orange on Jun 12, 2025…..CLICK HERE

Orange High School recently named Fritz Hessenthaler as its new head football coach, replacing former Panthers standout and alumnus Devante Pettiford. Hessenthaler won 48 games at his prior school, Southern Alamance, including a 2023 Central Conference championship. Hessenthaler is also adding his former defensive coordinator at Southern High – Will Robinson – as well as former Burlington Cummings head coach David Grimm, among others.

On the evening of Monday, June 9, the Orange County Schools Board of Education voted to approve Fritz Hessenthaler as the new head football coach of the Orange High School varsity football team. The following night – Tuesday, June 10 – Orange High School held a meet and greet celebration for their new head football coach inside the OHS media center. Hessenthaler comes to Orange High with a solid track record for success – although he ran into some bumps in his prior destination.

Hessenthaler makes his way to Hillsborough from Orange’s former conference rival Southern Alamance High School, where he had a highly successful tenure as head coach of the Patriots.

Over six seasons at Southern Alamance, Hessenthaler produced a record of 48-18, which included a Central Conference championship season in the fall of 2023. Southern went 12-2 in 2023, advancing to the fourth round of the NCHSAA 3A state playoffs. Hessenthaler was named Central Conference Coach of the year that fall after going a perfect 6-0 in league play and 9-1 overall in the regular season. Southern’s 12 victories that season included a pair of shutout victories over Orange – one in the regular season, and another in the first round of the state playoffs.

Although Hessethaler did well at Southern Alamance, employing his run-oriented multi-back offense, he was terminated as the Patriots’ head football coach prior to their first round state playoff win over Orange in 2023 following an incident with a player at a practice. The Southern Alamance community rallied behind Coach Hessenthaler – filling up the seats and aisles of a meeting of the Alamance-Burlington School System Board of Education in February 2024 in an effort to get him reinstated. Hessenthaler ultimately applied to regain his job prior to the 2024 season, but did not get his job back.

Prior to his time as head coach at Southern Alamance, Hessenthaler served as head coach at Southeast Guilford High School for 14 seasons from 2003 to 2016, producing a record of 100-72, and also worked at Providence Grove High School. A native of Liberty, North Carolina, Hessenthaler attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he played football under former head coach Mack Brown in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Orange fans can anticipate a high-octane rushing attack from the Panthers, as Hessenthaler is known for implementing a Wing-T style offense that rarely throws the ball. The Patriots only completed 39 passes in 14 games during their conference championship 2023 season, but rushed for just under 4,200 yards – an average of 299.7 yards per outing. Southern had three running backs with 600 or more rushing yards in the fall of 2023, including Logan Foust, who ran for 2,077 yards, and Jackson Parrish, who rushed for 1,108 yards. The Patriots wore opposing teams down with their punishing running offense, which averaged 6.7 yards per carry.

Defensively, the Patriots were a swarming, aggressive group under Hessenthaler and Robinson. Southern Alamance had eight different players with at least 50 tackles during the 2023 season, shutting out three opponents and holding six opponents to 15 points or less.

Also making their way to Orange alongside Hessenthaler is his former defensive coordinator at Southern Alamance – Will Robinson – another Southern Alamance assistant coach – Eric Blackwell – and David Grimm, who most recently was the head coach at Burlington’s Cummings High School. Also joining Hessenthaler’s new staff at OHS is Danny Pope.

Grimm, who led the Cavaliers to the 2023 Mid-Carolina 2A Conference regular season title, was dismissed at Cummings in May, but like Hessenthaler has a solid track record on the gridiron. Grimm helped develop Jonathan Paylor, one of North Carolina’s top multi-purpose athletes who signed with North Carolina State in the Class of 2024.

Hessenthaler is replacing Devante Pettford, an Orange High alumnus and former standout defensive lineman for the Panthers who guided his alma mater for three seasons from 2022 to 2024. Pettiford was credited for revitalizing the spirit of OHS football and led the Panthers to a state playoff appearance in 2023, but ultimately made the decision to resign after the 2024 season. Coincidentally, Orange’s 2023 playoff game was a 44-0 loss to Southern Alamance.