A video from the sidelines of an Alabama high school football game that went viral this weekend shows one of the most heartfelt moments of the football season.
As the Benjamin Russel High School (Alexander City, Ala.) team celebrated its win over Valley High School (Ala.) to conclude the regular season on Oct. 28, a coach on the Wildcats took the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend.
The video, captured by the coach’s mother Vivian Harris and shared to Storyful Viral, shows coach Jacob Walls hugging his girlfriend while craftily hiding the ring inside a piece of paper behind her back. As they release from the hug, he goes down on one knee.
Slowly, a couple of football players realize what’s happening, and then the rest of the team rushes in with genuine happiness for the couple.
The players didn’t even give Walls a chance to put the ring on his girlfriend, Emily, before engulfing him in jubilation. It took him a couple seconds to disengage from the team and officially become engaged with Emily, slipping the ring onto her finger and putting his arm up in victory.
Walls told Storyful that he got the ring in June and waited until the right time to use it. He said the football team’s success gave him the chance — the proposal took place following the final game of the regular season, at which time Benjamin Russell was 8-2. It was the first time in four seasons that the Wildcats finished with a record above .500.
The team, unfortunately, fell in the playoffs, but Walls and his fiancée didn’t leave ringless.
