Hi I am by no means an expert but also have a spirited baby (love this word to describe them!)
I used white noise, patting, shushing, stroking, threw everything at him basically, to get him to nap in his crib. I also did a little routine before the nap so he knows it's nap time. I couldn't believe it, but he goes down fairly easily now after about a week. First day took about 40 mins of intermittent screaming.