David Carr and Keegan O’Toole staged a series of epic battles that left college wrestling fans wondering where their rivalry ranked among the greatest in the sport’s history. 

There were tight battles that tipped late, an overtime fall for Carr in last year’s Big 12 finals, an impressive display by O’Toole a couple weeks later in the NCAA title bout and an evening of the scores by the Missouri star earlier this month in the conference championship. 

One thing had been missing, though — a back-and-forth battle culminating with a last-second score for the win. 

That changed Friday night in the NCAA semifinals, where Carr and O’Toole traded takedowns — and the lead — in the final minute with the Iowa State senior scoring the pivotal points with 10 seconds remaining to claim an 8-6 win. 

“I’ve been praying and reading my Bible every day and it truly gave me the energy,” Carr said. “I prayed to let me get unlimited energy. I don’t know if that’s possible, but it felt like I had a whole ‘nother gear of energy today in that semifinal.” 

The victory gives Carr the win in the series and sends the Cyclone to Saturday night’s 165-pound title bout, where he’ll square off with Penn State unbeaten freshman Mitchell Mesenbrink. 

It also broke up the possibility of a much-anticipated clash between O’Toole and Mesenbrink, who were teammates in Wisconsin at Hartland Arrowhead High School. 

The latest installment in the Carr-O’Toole series started slowly before a frantic finish. O’Toole broke the scoreless tie early in the second period when Carr was hit for stalling for the second time and the Missouri junior escaped shortly after to go up 2-0. 

In their previous two meetings — both O’Toole wins — the Iowa State senior hadn’t been able to crack through O’Toole’s multiple lines of defense. 

“We were able to work on some things right away (after the loss to O’Toole in the Big 12 finals),” Carr said. “I liked the match I wrestled, even though I lost, in the Big 12s because I put myself in a lot of positions and I’m like, ‘OK, I was in on his legs a bunch, I know what I’ve got to work on to finish and I think I can finish.’ Today I was able to get to those positions and able to capitalize and finish.” 

Facing a second-period deficit Friday night, Carr fired off a super duck and got to O’Toole’s right leg before eventually collecting the left one as well for a go-ahead takedown. 

O’Toole evened the score seconds later on an escape. 

Carr regained the lead when O’Toole cut him loose to start the third period and the Missouri junior wasted little time going back on the attack. He shot from distance but still grabbed a lock around Carr’s right leg and spent more than 50 seconds working to finish the takedown that ultimately came his way with 55 seconds remaining. 

Carr quickly got to his feet for an escape and fired back in on a shot that took action out of bounds with 26 seconds to go. O’Toole slowly got back to his feet and fended off three Carr attacks after the restart, but he couldn’t fight off the fourth. The Iowa State senior got to O’Toole’s left leg on a head-inside single and crumpled him to the mat with 10 seconds left for the win. 

“It was a great rivalry,” Carr said. “That match meant a lot. He’s a good competitor. He trains hard. Last year after NCAAs he told me I had made him better. And after he beat me at Big 12s, all I could think about was getting better, getting better at technique. He made me a better wrestler, too.”