Fall Notebook / Sean Waters : Absorbing System Difficult for Buena Players

Buena High Coach Rick Scott would have an easier time teaching his football players Chinese than his offensive system because at least he could write it down.

But only words can describe Scott’s intricate passing offense and Buena has run out of practice time to learn the new dialect.

Buena opens its season against Westlake on Friday night at Ventura High and Scott expects confusion. “I’ve had to start from scratch,” said Scott, who coached four years at Hart before changing jobs. “It’s not like Hart where the players have been exposed to a part of my system at the lower levels.”

Unfortunately, the only person who understands this offense is Scott. He has three new assistant coaches and doesn’t use a playbook.

“I don’t really like to use a playbook because kids become too dependent,” Scott said. “They study it the night before the game and forget everything by the time they walk onto the field.”

Fast learner: Junior Jason Isaacs beat out incumbent Dan White as starting quarterback at Buena because he has a better grasp of the system, Scott said. White threw for 1,105 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.

Special attention: Santa Clara has lost two consecutive season-openers to Bell-Jeff because of turnovers by the special teams. Coach Steve Dann doesn’t want it to happen again, so the starters will remain on the field for kicks.

In last year’s 13-0 loss to Bell-Jeff, Santa Clara had two snaps sail over the punter’s head and had a kickoff returned for a touchdown.

“We usually used reserves who showed they like to hit,” Dann said. “But we can’t afford to make those same mistakes again.”

College openers: Ventura, trying to rebound from its first winless season under Coach Phil Passno, will play at Porterville in its season opener Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

The Pirates (0-9 last year) then take a week off before playing host to Bakersfield on Sept. 24.