Homecoming dances have been around since the early 1900s, but asking a date to go with you hasn’t gotten any easier. 

Homecoming got its name from what was meant to be an opportunity to welcome visiting alumni back to the school for an annual football game. There’s some dispute as to when and where the tradition started exactly. The University of Missouri claims to have invented homecoming in 1911, while Baylor University says it held the first homecoming game in 1909 and the University of Illinois claims it has held homecoming events since 1910.

The tradition eventually spread to high schools, where it has become a rite of passage and something eagerly looked forward to by students. 

Rockwall High School football player Kaden Warren’s homecoming proposal to his girlfriend, Macie Dillard, recently went viral thanks to some help from a few of his teammates. 

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WFAA spoke with Warren and Dillard about the surprise proposal that’s gotten everyone’s attention. Here’s the start of the story:

ROCKWALL, Texas — A video of a sweet moment following a Rockwall High School football game is going viral, after a senior safety tried to ask his girlfriend to homecoming with the help of his teammates.

Kaden Warren told WFAA in an interview Wednesday he was so excited to ask his girlfriend, Macie Dillard to homecoming.

“She’s really amazing, and like the sweetest person and extremely beautiful,” he said.

Kaden’s teammate, linebacker Justin Riekers, said he’s never seen his friend so happy.

“He spends a lot of time with her, I’ve never seen him feel this way about somebody,” Justin told WFAA.

With homecoming around the corner, Kaden concluded a grand gesture was in order — a homecoming proposal, following a Friday night football win.

“I’ve never asked somebody out to homecoming before,” he said.

Kaden decided to surprise Macie with flowers, and have Justin and their other teammates hold up posters asking her to homecoming.

“I had stressed too, about them getting it perfect,” Kaden told WFAA.

“I was like, ‘trust me, I got this!’” Justin assured Kaden.

But when it came time for the homecoming proposal, Kaden’s teammates, who were supposed to spell ‘HOCO?’ with their posters, spelled it backward, and instead spelled out, ‘?OCOH’