Frustration lingers over Ipswich boys’ lacrosse team’s abrupt season-ending forfeit

WELLESLEY — Under a sweltering afternoon sun Thursday, members of the Ipswich High School boys’ lacrosse team shouted at the top of their lungs and wrapped each other in hugs as a ball found the back of the net.

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None of them, however, had scored.

Instead, the boys — whose own season ended abruptly this week after their team forfeited a state semifinal game amid a dispute over graduation cigars — packed the stands at Babson College to support the Ipswich girls lacrosse team during its state championship match with Sandwich Thursday afternoon.

“We can forget about what happened,” said Kirby Domingo, a junior on the boys team. “Obviously it’s a big deal, but we’re not going to make it about ourselves. It’s all about the girls today.”

Sandwich, however, defeated Ipswich 9-6.

The show of support came a couple of days after the fourth-seeded boys team forfeited its Division 4 state semifinal game against Cohasset after several players were ruled ineligible under the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s chemical health policy, which prohibits student-athletes from using tobacco during their season.

Players and parents have challenged the decision, arguing the cigars at the center of the controversy were homemade and filled with tea leaves rather than tobacco.

“The boys are all here to support the girls,” said Corie Clark, whose daughter plays on the girls team.

Clark said what should have been a celebratory week for the town’s lacrosse programs instead became overshadowed by controversy.

“I know a lot of the boys in that program, and they have lived for this,” she said. “They’ve been doing it since they were 6 years old. It’s just sad.”

Others in the town’s lacrosse community expressed frustration that the season ended despite parents’ efforts to show the cigars contained no tobacco.

Nathan Wright, a coach in the town’s youth lacrosse program, said he has known many of the players for years and struggled to understand why school officials rejected the explanations provided by parents.

“There are levels of nuance to discipline, especially with high school kids,” Wright said. “I really feel like they just came down unnecessarily hard.”

Questions about how the eligibility decision was reached continued to swirl Thursday.

Police body camera footage shows a tense meeting Tuesday morning between principal Jonathan Mitchell and the fathers of two lacrosse players hours before the team ultimately forfeited its game.

During the exchange, Mitchell said the decision was not his alone.

“This is a huge decision, I’m not going to make it solo,” Mitchell says. “So I bring in the superintendent because I trust his wisdom. I bring in the athletic director because he’s always been by my side. And we talked about it for the last two days.”

Mitchell said he, Superintendent Brian Blake, and athletic director Tom Gallagher reviewed available evidence before concluding the players were ineligible.

“I’m very disappointed to have to do this, but I’m doing my job,” Mitchell tells the parents in the video. “How do we enforce the rules? I can’t just look the other way. We’ve got more evidence that says they did it than not.”

Mitchell’s comments in the video appear to be the first public description from a school official about how the determination was made.

A police report related to the meeting says Mitchell called police shortly after 10 a.m. and requested an officer respond to the school “ASAP.” The responding officer wrote that John Gianakakis and Drew Wile were “noticeably upset by the ruling and wanted to vent and be heard by Mitchell.”

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During the meeting, both parents challenged the district’s conclusion and argued administrators failed to consider evidence they provided that the cigars contained tea leaves rather than tobacco.

“It’s a fake cigar, it’s been proven,” Gianakakis says during the exchange. “Now you’re telling all us parents, all us adults … that we’re liars.”

Wile accused Mitchell of initially indicating the players would be allowed to play before reversing course after Blake became involved.

Mitchell rejected that characterization and defended the school district’s process.

“Everybody had their due process,” Mitchell says. “We looked at the evidence. We made a final determination. That’s the end of the story.”

With Ipswich forfeiting the semifinal, Cohasset is scheduled to face Nantucket in the Division 4 boys championship game Saturday at Worcester State University.

The controversy stems from a post-graduation gathering at Pavilion Beach on Sunday where several members of the boys lacrosse team posed for photographs with cigars, images that later circulated on social media.

Christian Gianakakis, a senior on the team, said the cigars were prepared by his father so students could participate in what he described as a graduation tradition without smoking tobacco.

John Gianakakis said he made the cigars using chamomile tea leaves and other non-tobacco materials packed in empty cigar wrappers. He said he later recovered some of the cigars from the beach and provided them to school officials.

The MIAA said the eligibility decision was made by local administrators.

As of Thursday afternoon, district officials had not publicly explained whether administrators concluded the cigars contained tobacco.

The forfeit ended a season in which fourth-seeded Ipswich advanced to the Division 4 Final Four with tournament victories over Tyngsborough, Lunenburg, and Winthrop.

While many Ipswich players declined to discuss the cigar issue on Thursday, other students were more willing to share their frustration.

“I think it’s soft,” said Ben DeFrank, a member of the varsity basketball team. “They didn’t let them play, even though all the cigars were fake. Everyone knows that. I think it’s horrible.”

“All the seniors worked so hard for it, to not even play the outcome,” said Cullen Courville, a junior on the football team. “I just think the whole situation is just so bad.”

Others said they were encouraged to see the boys cheering on the girls.

“They could have just stayed down low, feeling bad for themselves, but they’re here supporting the girls’ team,” said Julie Tivan, whose daughter coaches the Ipswich girls team. “I think that’s awesome.”

As the clock counted down, the boys in the cheering section turned stony faced.

The girls team, losing 9-6, was mounting a late push toward the opposing goal. But it wasn’t enough – the clock hit zero and the Sandwich players erupted in celebration.

A sad, steady applause rose from the Ipswich stands, honoring the end of the season. “Cigars on me,”joked a spectator in the crowd.

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