Led by three natives of St. Charles Parish, the University of New Orleans club football team was named national champions by the National Club Football Association (NCFA).
UNO (7-2) held the top spot for the eighth consecutive week in the NCFA poll to become the city of New Orleans’ first football national champion at any level of intercollegiate football.
UNO linebacker Justin Hymel, a 2008 Hahnville graduate, led his team in tackles and defensive touchdowns and was also selected to the All-Conference team. He was UNO’s defensive captain in 2010. Another Hahnville alum, Drew Bonvillain, played tight end for the Privateers, while the team’s starting quarterback was Chris Brady, who is from Destrehan and played his high school ball at Holy Cross.
Brady was another All-Conference selection and served as offensive captain for the Privateers.
Both Brady and Bonvillain graduated high school in 2008.
“The NCFA is proud to proclaim the University of New Orleans as the 2010 NCFA National Champions,” said NCFA president Sandy Sanderson. “Their accomplishments on the field this season have proven to the voters that they are the best team in collegiate club football.”
Yankee Conference runner-up Vermont and Midwestern Collegiate Football Conference (MCFC) third-place team Wright State were ranked second and third, respectively amongst the NCFA, one of several different governing organizations in club football.
“This year has been a special year, “said head coach Andy Benoit. “Our guys, both players and coaches, have worked hard to represent UNO.
“To bring this championship back home to UNO and to the city of New Orleans means a lot to all of us. I could not be prouder of this accomplishment and everything that went into achieving it on and off the field.”
Two of UNO’s losses came against scholarship competition, but the Privateers rolled to a perfect 7-0 mark against fellow club competitors.
Along the way to the undefeated club season, the Privateers won the Midwestern Collegiate Football Conference title with a 28-14 victory over Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 13 in Newark, Ohio while also claiming the NCFA Gulf Coast Conference title by sweeping an in-season two-game series against I-10 rival South Alabama.
“It is exciting to have the first year of NCFA under our belt and look forward to moving on with growing the league and soon getting to the point where we host a No. 1 vs No. 2 in the national championship bowl game,” said Sanderson.
The UNO club football program was started in 1965 by Robert Brown and folded in 1971 due to a lack of funding. The program was restarted by Benoit in 2008 and has now concluded three seasons of competition.
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