Former Ticats ready to pounce

You don’t have to remind the Hamilton Tiger-Cats what happened the last time they visited Winnipeg.

It was on Sept. 27 when the Blue Bombers had their best showing of the 2025 campaign and smacked the away side 40-3.

“Man, I just remember they put it on us bad,” said Bombers corner Jonathan Moxey, who spent the past two seasons with Hamilton, after Tuesday’s closed practice.

“Every time you looked up at the scoreboard it was like, ‘This is crazy.’”

Moxey is convinced that beatdown has been addressed in his old locker room this week ahead of the Bombers’ home opener against Hamilton on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. CT.

“Knowing (Ticats head coach) Scott (Milanovich) and knowing those guys, they 100 per cent will not forget about that. When they come here, they’re gonna try to prove a point and try to make it seem like it was a fluke,” he said.

“But at the end of the day, that was last year, and this is this year.”

The 31-year-old defender will also be out to prove a point.

He would’ve remained in the Steel City if it were up to him, but the negotiation process dragged on far too long with the Ticats making other signings a higher priority.

The 2022 divisional all-star then moved on and landed with Winnipeg in free agency.

“I just want to go out there and compete and let them know they missed out on a lot — they already know that,” he said.

“They know what I brought to that team: a veteran presence, consistency at corner which they hadn’t had. They didn’t want me to leave, but they had their own plans, and I wasn’t in them. So, I’m happy to be a Blue Bomber and ready to go out there and compete and get that W.”

Moxey isn’t the only Bomber gearing up to play his former pals.

Receiver Tim White was released by Hamilton this winter after four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. The Bombers wasted no time and scooped up the 31-year-old two days later.

“I feel like, leading up to the game, you’re kind of just focused on the game plan, focused on executing,” said White.

“But, you know, I’m a rookie when it comes to playing them. I’ve never played them, so, we’ll see.”

Is White eager to make the Tabbies look silly for letting him go?

“I feel like, at this point, I’m not too big on answering too many questions about Hamilton right now. I’m focused on being a Bomber, I’m focused on the things I can do to benefit my team,” he said.

Whether he wants to address it or not, early signs suggest that Hamilton made a major blunder. All throughout training camp he was quarterback Zach Collaros’s go-to target and that carried over to last week’s season-opening 30-28 win in Calgary where he shined with five catches for 60 yards and a touchdown.

The Ticats dropped their opener 30-27 in overtime at home against Montreal.

“I think a lot of people might look past him and might not say he’s one of the top guys, but when I play against him in practice, from the time I spent in Hamilton until now, not too many people mess with him,” said Moxey.

“Whenever he’s A1 and on his game, I think he can be one of the best, if not the best wide receiver in the league.”

Castillo on game-winner

You’d think a 38-yard field goal would be a cakewalk for Sergio Castillo — a veteran who has booted three 60-yarders in his career. But his game-winner at the end of regulation on Friday at McMahon Stadium was far from simple.

“It was probably the toughest wind that Jams (punter Jamieson Sheahan) and I have ever played in. It wasn’t that it was strong — I think the Grey Cup in ’21 was the strongest I’ve ever been a part of — but this one, it was just swirling. One quarter it’s going this way, and one quarter it’s going the other way,” said Castillo.

“So, you know, when I don’t know where to aim, I just go down the middle.”

There’s more to the story than that, though. With the game down to the final minutes, he had the sudden urge to, well, go pee.

“The thing was, I saw they were driving and I was like, ‘Man, I gotta go, I want to be as relaxed as I can be,’” Castillo recalled.

He went to equipment manager Brad Fotty, who instructed him to go to head athletic therapist Al Couture who, apparently, has portable, disposable urine bags in case of emergency.

“I didn’t know that was even a thing,” said Castillo.

Couture, however, had bigger fish to fry with linebacker Jaiden Woodbey going down with an injury around the two-minute mark.

“So, I went back to Fotty and he’s like, ‘Alright, I’ll get you a (sideline) jacket. Just don’t pee on my box of equipment.’ We were just having a laugh,” Castillo said.

With an empty bladder, Castillo stepped out and drilled a walk-off winner. His wife, Adriana, and their two young children, Jared and Luisa, made the trip to Calgary.

“That game I was like, ‘Man, it’d be cool to get a game-winner.’ And I envisioned picking up my son from the stands and bringing him down to the locker room,” he said.

“I got to live one of my dreams, so that was cool.”

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