NEW HAVEN, Nov. 19--A desperation pass by Eliot House and a strong second-half offense by Dunster were the only bright spots yesterday in a dismal afternoon for Harvard House football.

In the championship battle, Leverett fell to a strong contigent from Davenport College, 13-6. The Yale champions registered touchdowns in each of the first two quarters, and Steve Ekdahl's 13-yard keeper in the third quarter was not enough to overcome the early deficit. Davenport ground out consistent yardage through the middle, where Leverett was missing its middle line-backer, Joe Agusciak.

The Eliot House-Jonathan Edwards and Quincy-Timothy Dwight games were both scoreless ties until a frantic 30 seconds when the last play of each produced a victor.

Until that moment, Eliot's performance was noteworthy for two defensive stands after Elephant backs fumbled first on their five, in the second quarter. But with four seconds to play, quarterback Bunk Reed lofted a 40-yard spiral that his favorite target, end Joe Pawlak, hauled in as he crossed the goal line.

The Quincy game went the other way, as Dwight culminated a last-minute, penalty-aided march with a 25-yard field goal to win, 3-0.

Dunster House outscored the eight other Harvard teams combined as it powered to a 30-22 triumph over Berkeley. Dunster scored the first time it got the ball, on a 45-yard pass from Bill Law to end Charlie Brendler, a combination that clicked time and again throughout the game.

Berkeley came back to take a 16-8 lead in the second quarter but Dunster pulled the win out in the second half.

Winthrop, which finished second in the Harvard league, almost held on long enough to beat Ezra Stiles, but finally fell, 12-7. The Puritans scored first on their pet play of the day: halfback Pat Conaway took a handoff from quarterback Mitch Sikora and passed back to Sikora who had broken downfield and covered 60 yards for the score. Al Liebgott kicked the extra point, which loomed decisive when Stile's two-point conversion try failed after its third-quarter touchdown.

The story of the other games was simply--no offense. Calhoun's one touchdown in the fourth quarter was all it needed to down Kirkland, 6-0.

Adams succumbed to Saybrook 28-6, averting total defeat only when Bill McMeekin recovered a Saybrook fumble in the end zone

Lowell and Dudley were trounced 28-0 by Trumbull and 43-0 by Silliman, respectively.