CARTERVILLE — The Orthopaedic Center of Southern Illinois Player of the Week for October 11-16 is Carterville senior Townsend Barton.

Barton made the most of his five first half touches against Pinckneyville, totaling 103 yards and scoring four touchdowns in the Lions’ 56-14 win.

Barton fills many roles for the Lions. He’s a threat running or receiving on offense. Defensively, Barton believes he has played just about every position this year.

That’s fitting, because Barton is an aspiring decathlete. Track and Field is where Barton plans to focus his attention in college, but he doesn’t want to specialize in any particular event. He medaled in both the 110 and 300 hurdles at the State Track and Field Championships back in June, but he prefers the decathlon, where he can compete in 10 different events. Barton says many college programs don’t focus on multi-event athletes, but schools such as South Dakota, Indiana State, Cincinnati, and Penn State do, and those are the schools he’s interested.

Track and Field may be the future, but football is the present. Barton and the Lions are preparing to open the 4A playoffs Saturday at home against Harrisburg.