When he played at New Iberia Senior High, Blake Delcambre was always a demon when he played defense.

So it probably should come as no surprise that when it came to playing college football, he signed with Northwestern State University, appropriately nicknamed the Demons.

Now in his third year, Delcambre has taken his demon playing ways and has become a starter at linebacker.

Northwestern State junior Blake Delcambre (49), a three-year starting linebacker for the Demons, is a New Iberia Senior High graduate. - Gary Hardamon / NSU Photographic Services Advertisement

“I made four starts as freshman and I’ve been starting ever since,” said Delcambre, who has racked up 45 unassisted tackles and 34 assisted tackles through 11 games for Northwestern State.

He also has 2.5 tackles for loss, one pass break up and five quarterback hurries on defense this year.

“It hasn’t been a bad year,” said Delcambre. “We started up and down this year then we got on a hot streak. We went through a lot of injuries and we’ve lost to some good teams.

“This has been an experience for me. Something that I want to keep for a long time.”

When he arrived as a freshman, Delcambre spent some time on the scout team before moving into a starting spot on the defense.

He hasn’t giving up that starting spot yet.

“I always play the game the best way I know how,” said Delcambre.

This year, the Demons are 6-5 overall and 3-3 in the Southland Conference and was in position to win the conference title and advance to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs before a heart-breaking loss to McNeese Saturday.

“To be in this position was great,” said Delcambre, who’s studying for a degree in general studies with a concentration in social sciences. “Nobody gave us a chance this year. But we were taking everything the same way that we take everything with football. We come out and play as a team and play each game as a team.

“We just want to be better and play better each week. If we make the playoffs, it would be great. It would mean the world to me.”

As a junior, Delcambre will be back next year for his senior campaign but he doesn’t want to think about next year, there is football to play this year.

“We don’t want to look towards next year,” said Delcambre. “We want to take this one day, one game at a time.”

But he does admit that next year could be a better year for the football team.

“We have a lot of juniors coming back,” said Delcambre. “We’re going to be a year older and we’re going to be better.”