In a move that has sparked outrage from parents and even a sports media mogul, the Ipswich High School boys lacrosse team has forfeited its state semifinal game after a photo showed graduating seniors appearing to smoke cigars. The controversy has divided the community and raised questions about proportionality in school discipline.
The Photo That Ended a Season
The image, taken after graduation, shows several members of the lacrosse team holding what look like cigars. The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) prohibits any use or possession of tobacco products by student-athletes. When the school district learned of the photo, it planned to suspend the players involved, leaving the team without enough athletes to compete in the Division 4 semifinals.
Rather than play shorthanded, the team chose to forfeit. “Ipswich High School was very excited to have its boys lacrosse team advance to the Division 4 State Semifinals,” the school said in a statement. “The team and coaching staff decided that due to the shortage of available players that it was in the best interest of the team to forfeit the game. We congratulate all of our players and coaches on a great season and for advancing to the Final Four.”
Parents Claim the Cigars Were Fake
Parents of the students involved say the punishment far outweighs the offense. Drew Wile, whose son was in the photo, told CBS Boston, “The crime and the punishment are not even close to each other. There’s a judge and a jury and it’s evil right now.”
John Gianakakis, another father, said his son asked for a way to participate in a cigar-smoking photo at graduation without breaking rules. Gianakakis contacted a cigar shop and assembled fake cigars using banana leaves, chamomile, and cigar wrappers. “They tried them. It was horrible. They burned fast. It was windy. It was dried paper and tea. A real cigar will last an hour to two hours depending on the caliber. Those kids would have been sick as dogs if they smoked what they smoked in the pictures,” he said. “Light a newspaper or paper towel on fire, and it would go whoosh. It’s the same thing.”
Barstool Founder Blasts School District
Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports and a Boston native, didn’t hold back. “I thought this was fake when I first saw it. Now the parents are saying they were fake cigars? That’s obviously a lie but how stupid is this? School administrators and MIAA continue to be the most brain dead humans on the planet. Imagine getting suspended for smoking a cigar at graduation? Insane,” he wrote on social media. “Everybody at MIAA should be thrown in prison.”
The incident echoes the intensity of other sports controversies, like the recent chaos outside Madison Square Garden for Game 3, where fans faced confusing security measures. But while that involved a pro arena, this is a small-town high school team whose season ended over a photo.
A Season Ends in Controversy
The MIAA policy clearly states that students may not use, consume, possess, buy, sell, or give away alcohol, tobacco products, or controlled substances. The policy even includes non-alcoholic beer. But critics argue that the punishment should fit the context—especially when the cigars were reportedly fake and the photo was a harmless graduation tradition.
For the Ipswich lacrosse team, the forfeit means a promising season ends not with a game, but with a debate over rules and common sense. The school district has not commented further, and the MIAA has not publicly addressed the case. Meanwhile, the students involved face a punishment that may follow them beyond the field—and into a broader conversation about how far schools should go to enforce policies.
