Toon, 16, Jumps Ahead of Her Class and Into College

Emily Toon, who figured to be one of the Marmonte League’s better girls’ soccer forwards this season, is instead a 16-year-old freshman at Pierce College.

Toon played two seasons on the Agoura High varsity but decided in August to forego her last two years of high school.

She plans to transfer to a four-year school in two years.

The move was made possible when Toon earned her general equivalency diploma in March as potential preparation for a study-abroad program.

“I felt socially and academically ready to move on and it was a chance to be around a more mature group of people,” Toon said.

“The majority of my close friends are in soccer so I can stay in contact with them.”

Agoura was highly touted before each of the past two seasons but failed to make it to postseason play.

“It’s one thing to say you want to make the playoffs and another to do it,” Toon said. “For a lot of the players, the mental effort wasn’t there and we didn’t get a lot of coaching help. High school soccer is a waste of time in a lot of ways.”

Toon is a member of the Las Virgenes Blazers under-17 club team and a participant in the Olympic Development Program.

FOOTBALL

Hair-raising: Hart backup quarterback Kyle Boller showed up at school last week with his hair bleached blond, courtesy of teammates Jerry Owens and Scott Hunt. He received plenty of teasing, but assistant coach Dean Herrington was not amused.

“I told him [starting quarterback [David] Neill could throw 10 interceptions, I’ll never play a quarterback with yellow hair,” Herrington said.

Back in the saddle: It was a special night last Friday night for Canyon lineman Josh Kelley, who made his first appearance in a game since suffering a knee injury in the opening game of the 1996 season. He has had two surgeries since.

Kelly started at tackle for the Cowboys against Hart and performed well.

Moving up: In a preview of things to come, Campbell Hall will play Avalon in an 11-man game at Birmingham on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Campbell Hall (4-2) will move from eight-man to the 11-man level next year.

The Vikings set up the game with Avalon, which plays at the 11-man level, because they each had an open date this week.

VOLLEYBALL

Big hurt: Lura Bleiberg must think she’s been hired to watch over an infirmary, not the Thousand Oaks High girls’ volleyball team.

Bleiberg, in her first year with the Lancers, was without four injured players in a victory last Thursday night against Agoura.

Against Newbury Park last Tuesday, outside hitter Kim Friel was not allowed to play because the referee determined a brace on Friel’s right arm was not court-safe.

“None of the other refs had called it the rest of the season,” Bleiberg said.

Friel was wearing the brace to protect an injury she sustained last season and will have the arm taped the rest of the season.

The Lancers (7-2, 6-2 in Marmonte League play) face Westlake on Tuesday. The Warriors are the top-ranked team in Southern Section Division II-A.