Courtesy Hamilton Spectator:

Start up the Timmy Chang pre-season hype machine again.

Chang, who sparkled in the Cats’ first pre-season contest of 2007, found the magic again a year later.

The Cats’ third-stringer sparked the Tabbies to a 12-10 victory last night over a bunch of recruits auditioning for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The exhibition victory came before an announced 15,231 chilly witnesses at the Balsam Avenue bengal bunker.

Chang entered the contest with two minutes to play in the third quarter and led the Cats to their only touchdown. Chang hit on four of five passes on his first drive, the only miss a 40-yard strike that hit Jo-Jo Walker in the face mask. Tre Smith finished the march with a five-yard touchdown spurt.

Chang, who left with five minutes to play in favour of Quinton Porter, finished an unofficial seven for 10. His yardage total wasn’t immediately available.

Chang’s performance aside, there was some good and some so-so efforts amid plenty of bad, boring, forgettable football.

Which is what most Tiger-Cat fans could expect from the club’s first pre-season contest.

As entertainment extravaganzas go, this one will never make the E-channel. And it’ll do nothing to sell seats for the Cats’ season opener in two weeks.

There were some positives. Cat kicker Nick Setta hit some soaring punts and was two for three on the placements, drilling a dynamic duo of line drive iron splitters from the 38 and 49. That put Hamilton up 6-0 after 15 minutes. A 41-yarder bounced off the left upright in the third quarter.

Terry Caulley and Smith enjoyed some solid carries out of the Cat backfield. Jason French and Pat Woodcock had some nice grabs.

Cat special-team coverage was solid.

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