A Barrie native and former high-school football star in the city is taking his game to British Columbia.

Kail Dava, who was born in Barrie, attended Innisdale Secondary School and played for the Invaders, was chosen 44th overall by the B.C. Lions in the Canadian Football League (CFL) draft on April 30. The defensive lineman was listed at six-foot-three and 281 pounds heading into the draft.

Dava spent his first two years of high school at Innisdale before transferring to Clarkson Secondary School in Mississauga in 2016, playing for their prep school team, Football North.

“I had a lot of fun at Innisdale,” he told BarrieToday in a phone interview after the draft. “Playing football in the States was a little different from Barrie, but I had a lot of good times in Barrie, for sure.”

Dava, who will turn 24 in September, spent five years at Tennessee Tech University, based in Cookeville, playing for the Golden Eagles before graduating last year with a masters of business administration.

He says he always appreciated the help he got from from the Invaders coaching staff at the time.