Small, black, hardshelled bugs inside my squash vines?

I originally thought that these were squash vine borers. However, after doing a bunch of research,squash vine borers are moths that look like wasps that lay eggs @ the base of the plant, and the eggs hatch as larvae that look like large maggots (lol). However, these bugs that I found both last year and now this year eating the summer squash plants from the inside out are small, black, beetle looking things and there's dozens inside the vines of each of the plants I pulled up today. Any idea what they are and what to use to prevent them? I am guessing once you have them they are next to impossible to get rid of, like vine borers?