CEDAR GROVE — The Cedar Grove-Belgium football team entered its WIAA Division-5 playoff opener vs. St. Joseph as winners of 22 of its last 23 games.

The only blemish was a loss coming in last year’s State title contest.

And the Rockets displayed their brawn once again on their home field Tuesday night.

Led by the senior tandem of fullback Spencer Jacque (11 carries for 216 yards, three touchdowns) and tailback Nic Vrubley (22 carries for 205 yards, two TDs), second-seeded Cedar Grove-Belgium (10-0) steamrolled the overmatched Lancers 42-7.

“By far they had the best running backs we’ve seen this year,” St. Joseph senior linebacker Jeremy Delabio said. “They wore us down a little bit. Mistakes (are) what hurt us, people missing their assignments.”

Added Lancers coach Jim Kenesie: “They were the most physical team we’ve faced all year, and their (offensive) line really got after us. I thought that made a difference in the ballgame. They were just a little stronger at the point of attack than we were.”

St. Joseph (5-5), which won its final four regular-season games to make the playoffs for the first time since 2005, put an early scare into CG-B (10-0), which was ranked No. 8 in the latest Associated Press state poll for medium division schools (enrollments 284 to 782).

The Lancers overcame two penalties and took a 7-0 lead on Ian Neville’s 1-yard run with 9 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

The six-play, 62-yard drive featured Dom Tirabassi’s 19-yard pass to Tyler Witherspoon and a 39-yard screen pass to Neville on the play preceding his score.

“That was the way to start a football game,” Kenesie said. “We came out and wanted to set a tone, and obviously we did a good job of doing that.

“We called a screen play, and we hadn’t shown that. I think we hit them by surprise and Ian made a great run. … and then he did a nice job of finishing it on the touchdown.”

But after punting on its first series, CG-B, which advanced to play third-seeded Oostburg (9-1) in a second-round game on Saturday, scored touchdowns on six of its next seven possessions.

Jacque’s 3-yard run put the Rockets ahead for good, at 14-7 with 9:35 remaining in the second quarter, and he later added 73- and 69-yard scoring runs.

Vrubley ripped off a 13-yard run up the middle early in the fourth quarter, giving him bookend TDs, as he also had a 27-yard burst that tied it at 7-7 with 3:11 remaining in the first quarter.

Jacque and Vrubley have combined for more than 2,200 yards and 29 TDs on the ground this season.

Meanwhile, St. Joseph could never duplicate its early success. Neville was limited to 69 yards on 23 carries, and the Lancers were forced to punt five times and turned the ball over on downs twice on seven of their final eight possessions.

Though disappointed for his high school career and his team’s season to end, Delabio said he was proud of the way the Lancers overcame a 1-4 start to reach the postseason. Plus, it was only two years ago that St. Joseph finished 0-9 after forfeiting its final five games due to a depleted roster.

“The team is what got us here,” Delabio said. “Sophomore year, we had to forfeit our season. For everybody to come together as a team and really put forth all of our effort and make it to the playoffs, it’s a big deal for St. Joe’s.”