We experienced the EXACT same situation as the OP with our son when he was also 2 and 1/2. It was tough for us because potty training went so easy with his sister, our first child.
We tried everything .... Pretty much just like the OP. It really seemed he was just scared of pooping on the toilet, which was odd, given he peed on it all the time.
Out of desperation, I created a "Special" diaper just for him. I made a huge deal of it. It was just a diaper with the butt cut out of it. When my son asked for a diaper, we used the new special diaper and went to sit on the toilet instead of hide in the corner. At first he protested a bit (but nothing like the screaming of trying before) but he sat and pooped! It took one more time after that with the special diaper, but he learned through those 2 experiences that using the toilet was not to be feared. From then on, he asked for the toilet instead of the diaper. From there, it was just a couple months of the typical training accidents.
During the entire time, there was tons of positive encouragement and rewards. Regrettably, the was some negative pressure too, when emotion got the better of my wife and I. Really try to stay as positive as possible; it's the only thing that works at that age.
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