FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England has a new hero not named Brady or Belichick.

On a night the Patriots marched with an undeniable purpose to the ninth Super Bowl appearance in their storied franchise history by dismantling the Steelers 36-17 in the AFC Championship on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, a guy named Hogan was their hero.

Chris Hogan.

The same Chris Hogan who went to college at Penn State in 2008 to play lacrosse, which he did for three years — well enough to become a team captain in 2010.

The same Chris Hogan who played one year of college football, at football powerhouse (NOT!) Monmouth University on the Jersey shore of all places, and still somehow found his way onto an NFL roster.

How did a barely recruited kid from Wyckoff, N.J., do it?

Because there’s not a trace of doubt in his DNA.

“There was no room for doubt,’’ said Hogan, surrounded at his locker by a crush of reporters after he caught those nine passes for a team postseason-record 180 yards and two TDs Sunday night. “I had to have confidence in myself that I was able to do this. I was a long shot, but I kept telling myself that I could do this and that I could play in this league.’’

A week ago, Hogan was nursing a thigh injury suffered in the Patriots AFC divisional playoff win over the Texans, hopeful he’d be well enough to play another playoff game.

A year ago, Hogan was a third receiver for the Bills and “on a couch watching football, wishing that I was in this position,” he said.

Eight years ago, Hogan was scoring 29 goals to lead the Penn State lacrosse team.

On Sunday night, Hogan was a different kind of hero, catching all those balls for all those yards and those two touchdowns in his second career playoff game.

“It’s been a long journey,’’ Hogan said. “But I’ve worked really hard to this point and I couldn’t be happier that I get to be a part of this team, this whole thing.’’

Reminded his 180 receiving yards set a Patriots postseason record, Hogan said, “It’ll be something definitely that I’ll remember for the rest of my career, and probably the rest of my life.’’

Then he added, “Someone told me [before the game] that this was going to be a game that you’ll look back on 30 years from now and you’ll remember exactly what happened.’’

It will be difficult to forget.

Hogan dismantled and demoralized a Steelers secondary that simply could not handle him. He had seven catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.

He gave the Patriots a 10-0 lead when he shook himself wide open in a soft Steelers zone defense on third-and-6 and caught a 16-yard touchdown from Tom Brady with 2:27 remaining in the first quarter.

He gave the Patriots a 17-6 lead with a 34-yard TD catch on a majestic flea flicker with 7:43 remaining in the second quarter.

It all made the Patriots’ front office look brilliant for poaching him from the Bills as a restricted free agent with an offer sheet last offseason after he had played his first four NFL seasons (2012-2015) in Buffalo.

“He plays with such high effort he makes every corner expend a lot of energy on every play,’’ Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan said. “When you cover a guy like that you have to match that passion. If you don’t, he’ll make you look bad.’’

Hogan made the Steelers look so bad it made you wonder if they even watched film of him last week.

“Every time we played, Buffalo it seemed like he would score a touchdown,’’ Patriots safety Duron Harmon said. “I don’t know why, but he had a great game when he played the Patriots.’’

Indeed, Hogan had a couple of his best games against New England while he was in Buffalo, catching five passes for 72 yards and a TD in a 2014 game and six catches for 95 yards in a 2015 game. The same way Belichick once went after receiver Wes Welker after he’d burned the New England defense while playing in Miami, he went after Hogan.

“When we got him, [safety Devin McCourty] told me he was from Jersey and he said, ‘Man, he’s going to be a good fit,’ and he has been,’’ Harmon said.

“He’s made big plays for us all season,’’ Brady said. “And he made big plays in the biggest game of the year for us.’’

Hogan hero.