SLIPPERY ROCK — Moments before putting his college football career in the past, Slippery Rock University senior defensive end Cody Conway went to work on his future.

Conway proposed marriage to longtime girlfriend Alissa Kelty, a former SRU trainer, at the conclusion of pre-game Senior Day ceremonies Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

“I talked to Coach (Shawn) Lutz about it a couple of weeks ago,” Conway said of his proposal plans. “This is how and where I wanted to do it.

“This is where we met. This was where it should happen.”

A 2013 SRU graduate, Kelty was in her final year on the student athletic training staff at SRU when Conway was a freshman. She now works for in-patient therapy at Passavant Hospital.

Kelty is considering returning to The Rock for graduate school. Conway hopes to join the state police force after graduating in December with a degree in interdisciplinary studies.

“I thought he hated me at first,” Kelty said of her first interactions with Conway. “He thought all of my taping jobs were terrible.

“A couple of my girlfriends said, ‘no, that guy is in love with you.’ They got me to quickly glance over at him one game and he was staring right at me.”

Together for the past three and a half years, Kelty had no idea Saturday’s proposal was coming.

“He totally got me,” she said. “We had talked about it before, but I was under the impression marriage was a long way off for us.”

SRU’s annual Senior Day ceremony usually starts with individual senior player introductions, alphabetically from A to Z. Each senior jogs down a long corridor formed by two lines of underclassman players.

On this day, players were introduced from Z to A, with Conway being the last one.

“I really wasn’t nervous,” Conway said as the player countdown neared his name. “I was amazed over how calm I was.”

As Conway was introduced, SRU teammate Pat Minenok handed Kelty a bouquet of flowers.

“I thought they were for his mother,” she said. “But as I kept trying to give them to her, she kept backing away from me. I didn’t know what was going on.”

Not a lot of players did, either — supposedly.

“I told as few guys as possible. I didn’t want the surprise to leak out,” Conway said.

It did, but only among some players.

“I know I heard about it. Guys get to talking,” Butler graduate and SRU linebacker Bob Vernick said, laughing.

After embracing his coaches and parents, Conway got down on one knee in front of Kelty and proposed as the entire SRU football team gathered around.

“It just added to the emotion of the day,” Rock quarterback Don King III said. “It got us that much more juiced for the game.”

The Rock went on to defeat East Stroudsburg, 57-15. Conway had five tackles, a tackle for loss and three quarterback hits in the game.

“I had to re-focus, but we were all ready to play this game,” Conway said. “My final game at The Rock, sharing such a personal moment with my teammates and coaches ... For a lot of reasons, this is a day I’ll remember forever.”