U.S. High School Athletes Punished For Cigars Photo Before State Playoff Game

A group of U.S. high school athletes have been punished and forced to forfeit a state playoff game because of a cigars photo.

High school lacrosse players in Ipswich, Massachusetts were gearing up for a state tournament semifinals game. However, they will not be playing in it. A photo surfaced of a group of high school graduating seniors appearing to smoke cigars after graduation. The Ipswich High School boys lacrosse team has now decided to forfeit their state semifinal game, after the school district was planning on blocking several athletes from playing, because of the cigar photo.

It is against Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) rules to consume tobacco.

Drew Wile, the father of one of the students in the photo, claims that the cigars were not real.

"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," he told CBS Boston.

The MIAA policy states "students may not use, consume, possess, buy, sell, or give away alcohol, tobacco products or controlled substances." The policy includes non-alcoholic beer, as well.

One of the boys' father's, John Gianakakis, said he was asked by his son for a way to participate in a cigar smoking photo at graduation - typically behavior for a graduation - without breaking the rules.

"I said I can't get you real ones, but I just started rolling cigars. I can try to make some fake ones, if you guys just want to go down there and we can hang out," said Gianakakis, who contacted a cigar shop for supplies

"He told me that you can use banana leaves. You can use chamomile and stuff like that, and use cigar wrappers," said Gianakakis. "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. Light a newspaper or paper towel on fire, and it would go whoosh. It's the same thing."

The school district wouldn't budge, though, and the team decided to forfeit, rather than playing without several players captured "smoking" cigars in a photo.

"Ipswich High School was very excited to have its boys lacrosse team advance to the Division 4 State Semifinals that was scheduled for Tuesday evening at 6pm. 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."

Barstool founder puts school district on blast

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who is from Boston, put the school district on blast.

"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.

"Everybody at MIAA should be thrown in prison."

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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 11:13 AM.