**CORRECTED to reflect that Justin Brown had an interception for a touchdown**

WEST ORANGE — “Chain Gang.”

The two words to describe West Orange-Stark’s defensive line were probably blurted through the public address system more than “touchdown.”

The Mustangs held Nederland to 28 total yards in the first half — 3 rushing — and went on to post a 42-0 victory Friday at Dan R. Hooks Stadium.

Turns out, the final result was a landmark in the history of Mustangs football — their 100th shutout win all-time.

“I’ve been fortunate to be around some great high school athletes,” sixth-year WOS head coach Cornel Thompson said. “Every young man that ever played defense here at West Orange-Stark has got ownership in this, right there. That’s a big deal.”

The shutout also was the first the Bulldogs suffered in nine seasons. Dayton beat Nederland 63-0 in the ninth game of the 2007 season, and the Bulldogs had scored in 95 straight games since.

“We’ll look at what we can do to improve ourselves, but a lot of it had to do with who we were playing.” 24th-year Nederland coach Larry Neumann said.

With about a minute left before halftime, more than half of the Nederland followers who all but packed the visitors’ bleachers left the stadium, their Bulldogs already down four touchdowns and rain drizzling down to the grass.

The Mustangs, out to defend their 4A Division II state championship, were aggressive on both sides of the ball, as expected. Jack Dallas completed 9 of 19 passes for 148 yards, connecting with Keion Hancock four times for 78 yards. Dallas started out 4 for 5.

“It’s pretty big,” Dallas said. “Those guys [Bulldogs] are pretty good and they’re well-coached. It was big for us because we wanted to come out and make a statement. I definitely feel like our defense did.”

Nederland unleashed junior Marshall Lange as its starting quarterback, and he completed 11 of 25 passes for 70 yards. But in that statistic, he threw an interception to Justin Brown, who returned it 20 yards to give the Mustangs a 15-0 lead.

It would have been 13-0 had it not been for a roughing-the-kicker call against Nederland, which blocked the kick. Nederland was then called for offsides on a two-point try it stopped, and Dallas made the Bulldogs pay by sneaking it in for two.

“We did some things mentally that hurt us tonight,” Neumann said. “We’ve got to correct that. We’ll look at the physical things and examine them more closely on video.”

Jeremiah Shaw rushed for touchdowns of 2, 9 and 10 yards in the first half. He had eight carries for 65 yards.

After Kavyn Phillips rushed for a 5-yard touchdown, Malick Phillips picked off Lange and returned it 20 yards to the Nederland 30, but the Mustangs did not score.

WOS backup quarterback Chaka Watson made a grand entry into the season, sprinting 69 yards for a score late in the third quarter. At that time, the Mustangs had outrushed the Bulldogs 90-8.

Now, Nederland has to overcome a rare shutout loss in hosting Dayton next Friday. Dayton lost at home to Channelview 29-22 Friday.

“The history with this contest and playing teams like [WOS] is we get better behind it,” Neumann said, his program now 8-26 all-time against the Mustangs. “Those will be our intentions going in next week.”

Believe it or not, Thompson is looking for a better performance from WOS as it visits Little Cypress-Mauriceville next Friday.

“Not bad tonight; I don’t know if we picked up where we left off last year,” Thompson said. “Close, but if we’re not better than that next week, I’m going to be concerned.”

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews