Across the state this week, bands are blaring at pep rallies, fans are painting "We're No. 1!" on car windows, and football players are boarding buses with the hope of driving deep into the postseason. It's playoff time again.

Some schools, such as Mesquite Horn in 5A, Rockwall-Heath in 4A and Lovejoy in 3A, will make their first playoff appearances. Other spots in the brackets are filled with familiar names in Texas high school football lore: Carter, Euless Trinity, Highland Park and Southlake Carroll.

Each of those schools has a playoff streak of at least nine years. That makes them traditional playoff teams, but they also have playoff traditions that go beyond winning games.

When Carter coach Allen Wilson was a player at Midland Lee, he couldn't help notice the "Mojo" rallying cry of rival Odessa Permian.

"When they stood up and hollered, 'Mojo,' you knew there was something to that," Mr. Wilson said.

Mr. Wilson told himself if he ever became a coach, he would employ a similar motivational tool.

"It can't be long, it's got to be something short and catchy, and something folks believe in," Mr. Wilson said.

Thus are the origins of Carter's "Red Storm" jerseys. The jerseys, with the words "Red Storm" emblazoned across the front, are worn only in the playoffs.

Mr. Wilson began the tradition back in the early 1980s when he was coaching at Paris, which wore "Silver Crush" jerseys. When he was at Tyler John Tyler, the playoff jerseys bore the word "Cujo."

The meaning of the phrase on the jerseys is known only to the team.

"It's got to be a mystery," Mr. Wilson said. "They [opponents] see that, and they wonder about it. We kind of want to let them keep wondering."

Merely making the playoffs is not enough for the players to wear the jerseys. The team has to meet certain criteria to wear the coveted threads.

Mr. Wilson said last year's Carter team came the closest to not wearing the Red Storm jerseys. Several players started crying when told they weren't going to wear them, though they eventually earned the right.

Keith Whitmire

Euless Trinity's football team will gather on the south end of the practice field this afternoon for a solemn playoff tradition.

Seniors will spread into a rectangle while the non-seniors and coaching staff form a line and work their way around the rectangle, shaking hands with each senior along the way.

All this will be done to taped music of "What a Wonderful World" and "Everything Is Beautiful."

Parents gather to watch the ceremony, known as the Senior Farewell.

Head coach Steve Lineweaver said the handshakes the seniors receive are accompanied by words of thanks for their leadership.

The ceremony serves a purpose, too.

"It reminds players that at this point, every game could be the last game," Mr. Lineweaver said. "Sometimes, kids don't think this can end. This helps create a sense of urgency."

Trinity (10-0), which plays Flower Mound Marcus at 4 p.m. Saturday at Texas Stadium, has won two state titles in the last three years and is ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press' state poll and in several national polls.

Mr. Lineweaver, who said the tradition is about six or seven years old, is adding a wrinkle to the festivities this year. The seniors have been given 10 minutes a day to compose a letter of thanks to their parents. The parents will receive the letters at the ceremony.

Randy Jennings

The 1978 and '79 Highland Park football teams were good, but they weren't good enough when only the district champion qualified for the playoffs. So when Highland Park won a district title in 1980, its fans were ready for a long playoff ride.

That's when the yellow ribbons began appearing.

"It just started out as a few moms with a couple of ribbons on the gates of the stadium and the trees around there," said Jim Castellaw, a Highland Park alum who in 1980 was an assistant to coach Frank Bevers. "It was not nearly as widespread as it is now."

As Highland Park prepares for its 14th straight playoff appearance, the yellow ribbons can be found on the gates of Highlander Stadium, on players' homes, and on trees and fences throughout the community. The parents of football players put them up each weekend during the playoffs, but they're not alone.

"Now it's a deal that, even if you don't have kids on the team, you put the ribbons up," Mr. Castellaw said. "It's a community symbol for how much everyone is behind the team."

Matt Wixon

Southlake Carroll coach Hal Wasson in 2001 came home to what was then a grass-roots experiment.

"My wife said, 'Have you seen Chase?'" Mr. Wasson said, referring to former Carroll quarterback Chase Wasson, then a junior. "She said he was glowing in the dark."

The younger Wasson's dirty-blond hair was bleached – as was other players' on that 2001 team. It then was a new way to show team unity. It now is an anticipated phenomenon in the Southlake community.

Fans know the playoffs are here when players sport two things – platinum blond hair and black football pants. Carroll switches from white to black playing pants at the start of the postseason.

Of course, the hairdos of Carroll players get the most attention. It's become such a phenomenon that other programs have experimented with it.

"It's kind of transcended, because some of them actually go to hair salons now to get it done," Mr. Wasson said. "Back in the days, most of them just went to a buddy's house. There will be specials for 'bleached hair week' at salons. All of the kids really buy into it."

Damon L. Sayles