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Cheerleaders cheered. The band played.

And a North Carolina soldier proposed to his Croswell sweetheart.

Army Specialist Christopher Brown of Asheville, N.C. purchased the engagement ring for Talia Steele about a week earlier, and was waiting for the right moment to pop the question.

Brown and his Army buddy, Ryan Roberts of Croswell, came up with the idea: Propose during half-time of the Feb. 15 game, on the gym floor, in front of Steele's parents, and hundreds of fans on hand for the basketball game.

Talia, daughter of David and Patricia Steele of Croswell is a 1996 Cros-Lex graduate who until recently was the assistant varsity cheerleading coach. She moved to Texas in January to be with Brown, when he returned from a 15-month tour in Iraq. The pair had met through Roberts, who served with Brown in Iraq and is assigned to the same base at Ft. Hood, Texas. Roberts introduced the couple at Ft. Hood, just before the soldiers were deployed to Iraq, and their long-distance relationship through cell-phone calls and e-mails, blossomed into love.

Steele returned to Croswell with Brown this month, to pick up items she'd placed in storage, and to help out at Friday's game, because the varsity cheerleading coach, Stephanie Davis, was on maternity leave.

Roberts was also home on leave, and contacted the school to arrange for the surprise proposal.

Brown, 26, feinted aheadache to get out of going to the game - so he could show up in his dress uniform at halftime after he got the phone call from Roberts who was at the game.

Actually, there was "4 minutes and 30 seconds" left in the second period when he walked in, Brown recalls.

The buzzer that ended the first half was the signal for the game announcer, who knew about the proposal, to announce that a soldier who had just returned from Iraq was in the audience. He invited Brown to come out on the floor, where he received a standing ovation from the packed crowd, a cheer from the cheerleaders, and music from the band.

"Ryan - he was my scout - he went to the game first, to make sure the announcer could do it," said Brown. "He called me on the telephone. I didn't want to show up early - she'd know something was up."

After the announcement, " I walked out to the center...I gestured for her (Talia) to come out. She had to be pushed out - she was embarrassed," he said.

"When she got there I gave her a hug, got down on one knee", showed her the ring and asked the all-important question.

"She didn't say anything. She shook her head - tears in her eyes, smiling," he recalled.

"I had no idea," said Steele. "There's an announcement -. I didn't catch it until one of my friends pushed me to the floor. It was shocking. Pretty sure my face was very red. He dropped down on one knee. My cheerleaders were crying. I was crying."

What was her answer?

"Yes - I don't know if I said it. I nodded. It was craziness."

So crazy that Brown had to get out of the way, because right after he proposed, "she was tackled by a flock of cheerleaders," he said.

The couple plans to marry after Brown is discharged from the Army in about two years.

What about Roberts? Well, he's also engaged to be married. The son of Cros-Lex varsity basketball coach Don Roberts proposed to his girlfriend, Sarah Reder of Macomb Township on Feb. 13, but in more intimate setting.

"We went ice skating, and were the only ones for open skate," he said.

"I'm all for embarrassing people - I'm always willing to help," he said. "I'm not all for embarrassing myself."