BY JEREMY GOODE
(PHOTOS BY ZAMANI FEELINGS & ANTHONY BOUIE)
PHILA.--Most siblings would support their brother by attending their senior football season in the stands.
Cecilia “CC” Albeck is not like most sisters who watch their brother on the gridiron from the bleachers. She chooses to support her brother, Penn Charter’s starting center Damian Albeck, on the field.
Literally.
For Damian’s senior season, CC wanted one last run with her older brother.
“We’re built-in best friends,” CC said. “Our parents always told us we should stay close to each other. So, we’re being best friends since day one. We always hang out, laugh and joke together. It’s awesome having him because he’s a best friend to me.”
So, how does that happen? What would that look like?
What started off as innocent fun over the summer turned into a crazy idea. Over the summer, the siblings went down the street from their house, and CC began to naturally kick field goals.
It looked like CC might be joining the Penn Charter football team over the 2025 summer.
The problem was that CC plays soccer for the girls’ varsity team, who also play during the fall season. Coming off her freshman season, she earned 2nd team Inter-Ac honors. She was one of the leading goal scorers for Penn Charter last season, and as a freshman no less.
So, the soccer team needed her without any interruption or hiccups from pursuit of playing football, of all sports.
Sibling Football Teammates Damian and Cecelia Albeck (Photo/ Zamani Feelings)
Solution: CC would simply opt to play both sports. While she continued to wear shin guards, when it was time CC traded them in for football pads.
Some people like their own space. It was Damian’s sport, after all. He was the one recruited to play football at Penn Charter under head coach at the time Tom Coyle, who left Penn Charter last year to return to his alma mater and become Father Judge’s athletic director.
Damian was the one who led the family to Penn Charter from Northampton, their hometown that was 30 minutes north of Allentown. They initially settled in Harleysville, which was an hour commute to East Falls. He had been on varsity for all four years.
It was his world; it might be understandable if he wanted it to stay that way and not have his younger sister invade his world outside their house.
Again, the Albecks are not like most people.
Damian embraced the idea of CC joining the team and welcomed it from the beginning. For him, it was not about his world or gatekeeping the sport. He wanted to play with his sister.
“If you see them together for any amount of time, you realize very quickly that they are best friends and each other’s biggest fans,” Penn Charter football head coach CJ Yespelkis said.
Damian made sure CC was included in all the team activities.
Strategically, it also made sense for the Penn Charter football team.
“We knew this year, we were not going to have many kickers because all of them graduated last year,” Damian said. “We talked to Coach Yespelkis about it, and he was all for it.”
Yespelkis signed off on CC kicking for the football team, but that was only half the approval they needed.
Ashley Maher, the girls’ soccer head coach at Penn Charter, relies on CC for goal scoring. While filled mostly with sophomores, the girls’ team had high aspirations of winning the league this year, requiring the most out of all the players.
So, if CC were to play football, it might be difficult to get the best soccer out of her if she also had to balance the two sports. Maher knew it was doable and welcomed CC to do both. She mentioned that Maher was one of her biggest supporters when making the decision.
As it turns out, Maher’s sons had done the same thing. Kind of. They played on their soccer team and kicked for the football team.
“I knew there was not a lot of conflict, and the football team would take care of her,” Maher said. “I love it that she is a girl doing it. For all the little girls here, it is really cool that you could do two sports and one being football, it’s really amazing for them to look up to her.”
The sentiments are nice, but logistically and team-wise, the reality of a student playing two fall sports seemed daunting, if not nearly impossible.
Penn Charter's soccer midfielder sophomore Cecelia Albeck. (Photo/ Zamani Feelings for PSD)
#22 CC Albeck in soccer game vs. Baldwin. (video/ Albeck family)
It is hard enough to balance school with one sport, so adding two, and one sport that is completely new and has a major physical component? Las Vegas probably would not take that bet.
Luckily for Vegas they could not bet, because they would have lost.
She balanced it all. She made it happen. From school, to soccer, to football, she checked off all three at a high level.
“After school, I’d go right to soccer from three to four-thirty,” CC said. “After that, I’d make my way over to football and do my kicks until six. And then lift, go home and do homework.”
For many, it would be undoable. For others, maybe they walk through it but are not able to maximize effort in any of the activities. CC viewed it as a privilege.
She took advantage of her two study halls and the math and writing centers, as well as flex periods throughout the day to get her schoolwork done.
“It definitely was a lot, but I enjoy every second of this,” CC said.
Penn Charter Sophomore Kicker CC Albeck (video/ Albeck Family)
Damian Albeck Celebrates Lifting his sister CC after another successful kick and goal. (video/ Albeck Family)
The physical component is one that never bothered CC. Football is a violent sport, even for kickers. Fortunately for CC, she had her older brother to back her up, in addition to the entire team, who additionally took on the role of brothers.
No one was going to hit their kicker. And if someone did even by accident, they would have to deal with the entire Penn Charter team.
Entering preseason in August, everything was well and good -- except for the fact that kicking a soccer ball and a football are two different skills. While it seems like an easy transition since you are doing the same motion, they were two different balls. Different pressure, different sizes, and different textures.
The technique of kicking a football through uprights is drastically different from kicking a soccer ball through a goal.
“I think it can be a very difficult transition because the mechanics are different, how you are kicking the ball is different,” Yespelkis said. “Just because you have a good, strong leg doesn’t necessarily mean you have an easy kick. She has made it a very easy transition because of how much time she has put into the work she has done.”
It was not a charity position Penn Charter was creating. They want to get the best players in the best position to help them win football games. They do not have time for a fun story in bringing on a girl on the team and having it hurt the team in the long run.
Especially at such an important position that influences several points throughout the game, appointing a kicker cannot be taken lightly.
So, for CC to win the job outright she had to show how successful she was at picking up the task at the end of the summer. And it paid off for the team throughout the entire season.
While Damian had some nerves early on as any older brother might, it was only a matter of time before he saw everything fall into place. He just needed one kick for proof.
“Her first time kicking, I got a little nervous if she was going to make it,” Damian said. “But after she made the first couple, I had complete confidence."
CC is not the first girl to play football at Penn Charter. But she is the first girl to play at Penn Charter and record a point.
In her case, points.
In her season finale against Germantown Academy, and Damian’s final high school game, CC drilled two extra points, helping beat GA 14-10 on PC/GA Day. The two extra points made against GA made for a total of 15 on the season on as many attempts. A perfect 15 for 15.
After a Tom McGlinchey quarterback sneak to put Penn Charter up 13-10 with 7:44 remaining in the contest, CC trotted out and drilled the extra point. It was the last point Damian would score in high school football, and he was on the field blocking for his sister.
“I did not even notice that, but I think it is awesome that she is the last person to score, that’s insane,” Damian said.
“My goal was to go 100 percent,” CC said. “I’m happy with this community and family to allow me to do it.”
CC and Damian Albeck After Beating Germantown Academy and a Sweet Ending to Damian's High School Football Career
The siblings celebrated the way they do every time CC converted on an extra point, with a high five and Damian lifting her up above his shoulders.
If a picture were worth 1,000 words…
After a season together on the gridiron, the siblings enjoyed their time together as new teammates and learned from the experience.
“I realized this year how close we actually were because we talk all the time at practice, whether I’m doing well or not, things I need to fix,” Damian said. “It also proved how dedicated she is to do everything.”
For CC, she knew that she and her brother connected at home. That extended on the football field this season as well.
“This season has been amazing with him. We connect so much on the football field because we both love sports,” CC said. “I just love him so much; I’m so happy I was able to play with him during his senior year."
It’s one thing to have the siblings play together for Damian’s senior season. The story could end there, and it would be sufficient.
Add in CC being the first girl to record a point in Penn Charter football history and to go 15 for 15 on extra points? OK, now you’re getting to the whipped cream.
The cherry on top are the accolades.
Damian earned first team all-conference, while CC was selected Special Team Player of the Year by her teammates. Damian also earned Trench Warrior of the Year from his Penn Charter teammates.
PC Lineman Damian Albeck and his sister sophomore kicker CC Albeck. (Photos/ Anthony Bouie)
What seemed like a dream last summer turned into an award-winning season by both Albecks'.
The big question remains; will CC kick again next year? Damian will be playing in college somewhere; he is talking to Georgetown and Towson, among other schools. So, big bro won’t be there next year if CC were to play and kick for Penn Charter in her junior year.
It is hard for CC to go wrong either way.
If she continues to kick, she continues the legacy she created this year as the first woman to score points in Penn Charter football history. The team would also benefit from her play, as they would return their extra point kicker who was 100 percent on extra points during the 2025 season.
But if CC does not return, it almost makes for a happy and satisfying ending. She was able to play with her older brother for one season. She contributed to the team’s success. She made history as the first girl to record a point in school history for football.
“If I don’t, I probably would like to be a manager of the team,” CC said. “I think if I don’t play, it shows it was all for him. If I played for one year, it would indicate that more.”