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Figuring out where Hebron is can be a difficult thing.

The high school is in the Carrollton city limits, but it's part of the Lewisville school district. Students come from Carrollton, Lewisville, The Colony, Frisco and even Plano.

Hebron's football team, on the other hand, can be easily located. This time of year, Hebron is always found in the playoffs.

Hebron is in the postseason for the sixth year in a row. Not bad for a school playing just its eighth varsity season.

For all but one of those playoff years, Hebron has won at least one playoff game. That includes winning the Class 4A Division II state championship in 2005.

This year, Hebron has won two playoff games, although it probably feels as if it's played three. Hebron outlasted DeSoto on Saturday, 50-44, in four overtimes.

DeSoto was a glamour team with lots of eye-popping speed and talent. Yet Hebron, which began the year with 22 new full-time starters, is still alive in the playoffs.

"It's just been fun to watch the way these kids find ways to win football games," coach Brian Brazil said. "The thing with yesterday [the DeSoto game] showed they don't have any quit in them. However way you want to slice it, we've just found a way to win."

ERIC KAYNE / DMN

Running back Darius Staten has become a weapon in the passing game for Hebron, which had an offense known for its running prowess until this season.

Hebron has also found a way to succeed year after year. That can't be an easy thing to do when the Hebron community is actually a conglomeration of four or five separate communities.

"We live all over the place," defensive end Garrett Shinkle said. "While we're together on the football field, we make the best of the time we have."

Hebron is 10-2 this season after following the same formula Brazil has established since going 0-10 in 2000, the first varsity season.

Hebron emphasizes 7-on-7 football in the summer – not just because it helps the quarterbacks and receivers, but because it helps the defense, as well.

Hebron schedules good nondistrict competition, starting with this year's opener against 2006 5A Division II state champion Cedar Hill. Hebron lost, 38-31, but playing Cedar Hill prepared it for the speed and talent of DeSoto.

Hebron also emphasizes winning at the subvarsity level. Whether it's the junior varsity playing for a district title or an eighth-grade feeder playing for the city championship, Hebron stresses the importance of winning as well as learning.

"I just think it helps the mind-set that you've got to win," Brazil said. "When I leave here on Thursday night and our JV and freshmen have swept the teams we're playing, I sleep a lot better."

Shinkle, a senior, said he's lost four games his entire high school career. His freshman and JV teams went undefeated and the varsity lost just twice last year.

"If you're used to winning at every level, when you get to that varsity level you've got it ingrained to your mind that you're going to win," Shinkle said.

What is unusual about this season is that Hebron, normally a running team, is throwing the ball more than ever.

Quarterback Tanner Marsh has passed for more than 3,000 yards to a productive receiving corps that includes Phillip Mitchell, Patrick Robertson, David Crawford and Matthew Leatherwood. Two other top targets are Alex Norman at slot receiver/tight end and running back Darius Staten.

Despite its success, Hebron is still trying to make a name for itself. During the 2005 state title run, Marsh remembers announcers constantly pronouncing Hebron as if it rhymed with Chevron.

"I actually had a talk with the ref coming out of the locker room at halftime," Shinkle said of Saturday's game. "He said, 'I was having an argument with my wife, is it Heb-RON or HEE-brun?' I told him it was HEE-brun, and he said, 'All right! I won 20 bucks.' "

Class 5A Division II, Region I semifinals: Hebron (10-2) vs. Mansfield Timberview (9-3), 4 p.m. Saturday, Texas Stadium