When the Straughn High School Tigers hit the field Friday night for their playoff match up with Northside, the players won’t be the only ones in uniform – they will be joined by students who come to games in their own Friday-night garb.

SHS seniors J.D. Driver and Brennan Maddox said donning head-to-toe body paint has become a tradition for the Tiger faithful.

“It really started last year,” Maddox said. “They went pretty far (in the playoffs).”

Driver said that playoff run, which ended in a semifinal loss to Fayette County, motivated him, and other students, to do all they could to support their team.

“It’s just kind of become a tradition,” Driver said. “We’re not in a club. It’s just guys and girls that we know.”

Driver and Maddox said the body paint adds to the long-standing Straughn tradition of shaking milk jugs filled with rocks – just another way to cheer on their team, while hoping to intimidate their opponents.

“(The milk jugs) have been here the whole time I’ve been here,” Driver said.

In fact, the jugs also predate most of the school’s administration.

“I graduated here in 1980 and, as long as I can remember, the milk jugs have been in effect,” SHS Principal John Evers said. “We’ve always had great community and students support.”

Evers said Straughn’s students and fans are hoping that support will make a difference in Friday’s post-season game.

“It’s just a great way to be rowdy and let the kids hear it on the field,” he said. “I actually see a lot of other schools doing that now. It’s flattering.”

Driver and Maddox said the tradition is a lot of fun, but not always the most comfortable situation for fans.

“Last year, we went to the third round of the playoffs, and it was really cold,” Maddox said. “But we stuck it out.”

Driver and Evers each said the body paint and milk jugs are huge parts of why Straughn has become known as a team that rarely drops a game at home.

“We play well here at Straughn,” Evers said.

“I just take pride in being the loudest fan and the biggest supporter for our team,” Driver said. “Especially in the playoffs. We try to paint up and help out.”

Driver and Maddox said the process of  “painting up” for a game is also a “team effort.”

“Usually you’re getting painted and you’re painting the other one,” Driver said.

Evers said that when the Tigers hit the field Friday night, it will be a joint effort between football players and die-hard fans that will earn the school a victory, summing it up simply with one statement: “We just have a good group of kids here.”

Kickoff for Straughn’s playoff match up with Northside is scheduled for 7 p.m.