It's not a typical game day for the Gloucester High School football team. For a few reasons.

Of course the easiest to figure out is the fact that today is Thursday, and the vast majority of high school football games are played on Friday and Saturday. But many of this week's games were scheduled for tonight because of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

Gloucester's opponent tonight at Newell Stadium (7 p.m.) also makes this Week 2 unique. The Fishermen will step outside the Northeastern Conference and play Merrimack Valley Large and Division 1 member Andover. The Fishermen will do so on just three days of rest, after they disposed of Swampscott 27-0 on Sunday in the season opener. Andover, which defeated North Andover (27-21) last Friday in its season opener, will nearly be on a full week's rest.

"We cancelled the junior varsity game (on Monday) because those kids were able to get into the game against Swampscott," said Gloucester head coach Paul Ingram after Sunday's win. "If those kids hadn't got in enough, we would have played the JV game. We have a tough battle and we had really only two or three days to prepare."

Ingram said that the two teams exchanged film on Sunday evening and you could imagine the Gloucester coaching staff started dissecting the Warriors as soon as possible.

Andover and its first-year head coach John Rex, who coached the Andover freshman team for the last five years, do indeed have some weapons. The team is a bit older and a bit wiser after last year's 4-7 campaign in one of the strongest leagues in Eastern Mass.

Leading the way is senior quarterback John Hennessy, who threw for 20 TD passes last year. In last week's win, Hennessy was held to just 4 of 14 for 39 yards passing. But he rushed for 80 yards and three scores. Senior running back Nick Enxing is the other go-to guy, as he rushed for 191 yards and a TD in the opener.

The 21 points that Andover surrendered is a slight improvement from last year when the Warriors allowed nearly 25 (24.6) points per game. The Warriors were also just 1-4 on the road last year.

Both of those facts bode well for Gloucester, which can put up points in a hurry or kill the clock.

The Fishermen were potent with the run and pass game against Swampscott. Senior quarterback Brett Cahill was efficient, going 6 for 11 for 74 yards and a TD, while senior Conor Ressel gained 103 yards and two scores on the ground to lead the rushing attack.

Gloucester's defense was also excellent in shutting down Swampscott's spread offense, perennially one of the most explosive offenses in the area. Still, the Fishermen defensive unit — led by Cahill at middle linebacker, Gus Margiotta and Chris Unis on the line and Ressel in the secondary — will have their hands full with an abundance of talent from a big school.

It should be a great early-season test for both schools.