There was no magic wand for Jon Mack to wave in his debut as Ventura College football coach on Saturday night at Larrabee Stadium.

Ventura turned the ball over seven times and had two other turnovers nullified by penalties as it was shut out, 10-0, by non-conference opponent Los Angeles Harbor in the season opener.

"The defense played its heart out," said Mack. "We're going to be better and better, I promise you."

The Pirates offense, featuring freshmen Junior Riley and Billy Peters at quarterback, made 11 first downs on 203 yards of total offense.

Riley started and completed 5 of 11 passes for 14 yards and an interception. Peters came off the bench and earned the bulk of the snaps by completing seven of his first eight passes, but finished 22 of 37 for 171 yards and three interceptions.

"Our offense is very young," said linebacker Scott Garner, who had a sack. "They just need a little more time. They moved the ball up and down the field, they just need to eliminate the turnovers."

Shut out for three quarters, Ventura drove 43 yards to the Seahawks 7 in the final six minutes of the game.

But a penalty, a sack and Jeremy Bryant's goal-line interception of Peters cemented the shutout.

Asked when the last time one of his teams was shut out, Mack, who became the county's winningest prep coach in 17 years at St. Bonaventure High before moving east on Telegraph Road in April, could only shrug.

"A long, long time ago," said Mack. "That's not something I want to remember."

Harbor quarterback Andrew Trudnowski completed just 16 of 38 passes for 213 yards, one score and an interception by Ventura sophomore Justin Haulcy-Bateman.

Returning all-state receiver Deryn Bowser was held to 51 yards on four catches.

"I think we did a good job on him," said freshman safety Dakota Holland. "We knew they wanted to get him the ball and we keyed on him."

It was turnovers that pushed the Pirates back, 10-0, through three quarters.

In the final minute of the first half, Riley was intercepted across the middle by safety Cris Taylor.

Two plays later, 29 minutes of deadlock was broken. Trudnowski found receiver Chris Matthews down the seam for 29 yards, then in the end zone for an 8-yard score and a 7-0 halftime lead. Just seven seconds remained in the first half.

Peters was sacked and stripped of the ball on the Pirates' first possession of the second half. Although the defense held, forcing a pair of incompletions in the end zone, the takeaway set up Miguel Madrigal's 25-yard field goal.

The night was reminiscent of many games a year ago, when a sputtering offense failed to take advantage of a good defensive performance.

"Yeah, it reminds me a lot of last year, especially the Golden West game," said safety Chris Golder.

Ventura snuck by the Huntington Beach school last season on two defensive touchdowns.

That said, even after a solid effort wasted by offensive inefficiency, the Pirates defenders stood by their teammates.

"We need games like these to learn from," said Golder.

"It does bring back some (memories)," said Garner. "But I think this year will be a lot better than last year. That's in the past."