The intramural football program kicked off its season at Soldier's Field yesterday as last year's House kingpins were bowled over in their first games of the year.

Leverett beat defending champ Kirkland 9-2, Eliot crushed Quincy 12-2, and in a game stopped at the half that may or may not ever be resumed, Winthrop outscored favored Mather 12-0.

Intramural football is not a glory sport--the largest crowd of the afternoon was watching construction workers hoist a girder at Harvard's uncompleted new sports complex--but players remain enthusiastic.

"Many people go out for intramural teams because of the football mystique," Jim Gostylo '78 of Winthrop said. "Most of us played four years in high school, then play intramural here and pretend it's the same. But of course it isn't."

Gostylo's uniform number was 11, although he is a wide-receiver, not a quarterback. "They just hand out what fits. No one cares about the numbers," he said.

The athletic department provides the teams with equipment. The helmets were once used by the Harvard varsity, and a few still carry a visible "H." Others bear the "K" of Kirkland and the "E" of Eliot, letters made of heavy tape. To have real helmets of their own, with the "K" painted on, is the special dream of Kirkland. Undefeated last year, Kirkland was touted by many to be a better team than Ivy-doormat Cornell.

"This is a very, very, big upset, to put it mildly," K-House Coach Mike Bruich said of his team's loss to Leverett. He added, "Kirkland will be heard from." But not in Ithaca.

In the other upset of the day, the Winthrop-Mather half game, Mather impressed onlookers early with its strenuous pre-game calisthenics and its coach, who wore sunglasses and a sweatshirt while carrying a clipboard. Winthrop was up 12-0 at the half (successful extra-points are not too common in intramural football), but the physician who is required to attend all games had left and the second half was indefinitely postponed.