The Plot Thickens on Ipswich High Forfeiting a Lacrosse Playoff Game as Parents Say the Kids's Cigars Were Fakes and This Was All 'Retaliation'

Paul Marotta. Getty Images.

We've come a long way in my lifetime. I would argue - and have been - not always in the right direction. We've gone from a culture were a coaching legend used the humble, noble cigar as a symbol of victory. And Red Auerbach was immortalized as such. Carved in bronze holding one of his beloved heaters at a tourist destination outside a ladies underwear shop. 

I've told this story many times, though I don't think here, about the number one way society has changed since I was a kid. I was nine years old, and there was a huge town festival at the South Weymouth Naval Air Station, where Boston kid's TV host Rex Trailer (think a live action Sheriff Woody) was putting on a show of cowboy stuff. Rope tricks and such. And he pulled my neighbor Sammy out of the crowd up onto the stage, put a cigarette into his mouth, and cracked it out with a bullwhip. To thunderous applause. If that were today, you'd find old Rex doing one final rope trick. From the ceiling of his jail cell. 

Anyway, that's how far we've come. From entertainers putting Marlboro Reds into the mouths of 9-year-olds for entertainment purposes, to the area outside my high school cafeteria being the designated smoking area, to this story that Jordie posted yesterday:

As thoroughly as Jordie covered it, it still barely scratched the surface. As they say in the journo business, this story has legs. It sits right at the intersection of kids, sports, parents, and bureaucratic overreaction. So there are going to be a lot of diamond-like facets to it that will be discussed for weeks. 

Before we go any further into them, I'm not about to absolve the parents of the Ipswich High School Boys Lacrosse team from any and all blame. The more you dive into this one, the more you discover there's plenty of snowflakiness to go around. Beginning with the fact that, before all this went down, some of the parents were bellyaching because they didn't approve of the location of the game that was forfeited. Not because it was in a dangerous area or hard to get to. But because they thought it would give the opposition a home field advantage.

Even though the location was predetermined like a March Madness or World Cup site:

By way of context, Scituate ("The Irish Riviera") is what a late, great comic friend of mine used to call "A tiny little drinking village with a fishing problem." While Cohasset is one of the most affluent towns in all of Massachusetts. The former is hardly a huge hotbed of support for the latter. All this meant was the Ipswich bus and parents would have to leave for the game earlier than the locals did. But whatever happened to instilling in your kids the mental toughness that they can meet anyone, anywhere, and beat them? Of Larry Bird saying he loved nothing so much as making a road arena go silent. Or Curt Schilling saying it's his sworn duty to make 50,000 shut up? Instead these parents were sending their sons the message that they need to fear a team whose gardners and cleaning ladies get paid more than the average Ipswich resident makes. 

That said, here's the latest on what really went down. Suffice to say, the 2025-26 school year has been a complicated one for Ipswich Boys Lax:

Source - The silence from school officials has been deafening. … But players and their parents are making themselves heard loud and clear. …

[Suspended player Christian] Gianakakis’s father, John Gianakakis, told CBS Boston that he made the faux cigars using banana leafs, cigar wrappers, and chamomile.

After photos of the players at Pavilion were sent to school administrators, John said he met with Ipswich High Principal Jonathan Mitchell on Monday to explain.

“Mr. Mitchell looked me in the eye, sat me down, and said: ‘John, these kids are cleared to play,'” he told CBS Boston. …

“[Superintendent] Brian Blake got involved and sort of shut it down right away,” Gianakakis said. “I feel like it’s kind of a slap in the face.”

Neither Blake nor Athletic Director Tom Gallagher have responded to requests for comment from the Local News and other media outlets. …

Some are now wondering if Blake’s decision to suspend the players was in retaliation for a widely-publicized incident earlier in the season that saw a varsity lacrosse player seriously injured while the athletic director and trainer were not present, prompting parents to question the district’s emergency preparedness and policies.

The athletic trainer ultimately resigned, citing public criticism and comments made by parents on social media.

It was also pointed out by parents at the time of the injury that there was no Automated External Defibrillator (AED) available at the field, as is required under state law.

The School Committee questioned Blake about the incident, encouraging him to be more proactive and to improve his communication with the committee around player safety concerns.

Parents who spoke to the Local News at the time asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation against their children.

“It feels like a punch in the face back at us for [the parents] going after the school,” Gianakakis said. “[Blake] has not communicated anything to us or any news people who are trying to interview him. He’s kind of hiding … it kind of shows that he knows he did something wrong.”

So assuming what this Gianakakis guy and some other anonymous parents are claiming, this was one of those situations where cooler heads were about to prevail. He explained to the Principal that the cigars weren't real, they were just for show. Reasonable people made a cool-headed decision in the best interests of the players. Everything was all set. Until this Superintendent Blake got involved, and went scorched earth on the whole thing. 

Make of this what you will. It does sort of strain credulity that this dad would have expertise in the manufacture of making fake cigars out of banana leaves and chamomile. But presumably he still has the evidence. It would seem to be pretty easy to back up that claim. 

What's easier to believe, though harder to prove in this case, is that this Blake guy acted purely out of spite because he took heat for the absence of the trainer when a kid got hurt and the lack of a portable defibrillator at the field. Again, I can't take a stand on that. He's entitled to speak up in his own behalf. The fact he hasn't is a terrible look. 

What I can say for sure is that this sounds really plausible to anyone with an even cursory understanding of how town politics work in Massachusetts. Townies hold grudges better than any Eastern European ethnic group. Just look at the Karen Read trials and you'll know that tribal loyalties run deep around here. People protect their own interests. And revenge is our official state sport. 

Again, I won't say if that's what happened in this case. Or claim the parents are all telling the truth. But if that's NOT how this went down, than the way the town of Ipswich operates is a rare exception in these parts. Stay tuned. This story isn't going away any time soon.